Latest update April 4th, 2025 6:13 AM
Relocation of utilities affected progress of US$46M West Dem. Road project – Snr. Engineer
It should have been about 30 per cent along but the West Coast Demerara Road Improvement Project remains about 20 per cent completed. This is according to Senior Project Engineer within the Ministry of Infrastructure, Mr. Kester Hinds, who attributed it to delayed relocation of utility services.
Senior Project Engineer, Mr. Kester Hinds
The US$46.8 million project includes the widening of 30.7 kilometers or 19 miles of road stretching from Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, to Parika, East Bank Essequibo.
The project is being undertaken jointly by Surrey Paving and Aggregate (SPA) Limited, a Jamaican Company, and BK International. It is slated to be completed in three years and, according to Hinds, January marked one year into the project.
Works including widening and overlays of the thoroughfare in addition to the cleaning of culverts, commenced at the East Bank Essequibo end, a move that was based on the fact that there is likely to be minimum disruptions in terms of traffic volume there. Disruptions are expected to increase as the work moves towards the Vreed-en-Hoop end, Hinds noted.
The contractors are currently engaged in the building of concrete drains in the vicinity of Anna Catherina. And in order to facilitate the ongoing works there was need to relocate utility services in the area, Hinds said.
He disclosed that the project could have been further along. And this, he added, was due to the fact that “we had challenges initially getting the utilities relocated. That has contributed somewhat to the only 20 per cent progress thus far.”
And the challenges, he noted, essentially hindered the contractor from taking advantage of the prevailing “”fantastic” weather. “Based on the timeframe and the weather being favourable we should have been further along more like 30 per cent,” said Hinds.
But given the fact that only 20 per cent of the work has been completed, there is still a great deal left to be done. Thus far there has been no significant work between Vreed en Hoop and Meten-Meer-Zorg, according to Hinds.
Despite some delay, he is optimistic that the project will be completed within the stipulated time and within budget.
The ongoing project is being funded by the Caribbean Development Bank and the Guyana Government and has five components. In addition to the changes to the road layout, the project includes: a driver and community awareness project which is being coordinated by GeoTechVision; a public relations component which is being led by Tagman, a monitoring and evaluation aspect which is being undertaken by a Canadian Company and a road safety education for schools which is being undertaken by Transport Research Laboratory of the United Kingdom.
But according to the Senior Project Engineer, the changes to the road layout are in fact particularly important aspects of the road project since they are intended to incorporate facilities to cater to the more vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists.
And this, he noted, would include a cycle lane and walkway for pedestrians and in some sections provision for parking along the 19 miles of road.
“What we find most of the time is that when you are driving, a cyclist is just in front of you and of course they slow down the flow of traffic and they essentially expose themselves to danger as well. So we want to independently make provisions for them so the cycle lane will be there in some areas,” said Hinds.
Despite the noble intent of the project some residents within the vicinity of ongoing works are not very happy. This is in light of the fact that “persons who are living on the upper end (East Bank Essequibo), they have been suffering from a dust problem and we apologise to them,” related Hinds.
“He disclosed that while “the contractor has been consistently wetting the roadway that is not working of course because the road is very, very dry.”
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