Latest update April 4th, 2025 5:09 PM
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US$31M Sheriff St./Mandela Ave. expansion… State of uncertainty exists over continuing works
Chinese contractor Sinohydro Limited seems to be in a state of uncertainty over continuing works on the US$31M Sheriff Street/Mandela Avenue road expansion.
An excavator being used to load one of the electrical generators into a truck to be taken away
A parked excavator along Mandela Avenue
When Kaieteur News visited the worksite yesterday, works were halted and some workers were seen packing up construction equipment.
One worker said that he has no knowledge of any decision taken by the company or the government to stop works. However, he said, he was told by his superiors to “pack up” and remove some of the equipment.
Two days ago, it was revealed that Inter-American Development Bank had suspended payments to the Chinese contractor for several breaches in the project. As a result, a number of workers had reported that they had since been laid-off by the company.
In a statement released by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI), these significant breaches are said to be associated with Section 4:08 of the loan agreement. This section covers the environmental and social management of the project.
According to the Ministry, numerous warnings have been issued to the contractor about their social and environmental non-compliances along with traffic safety and control infractions.
But as observed by the MPI, no efforts whatsoever, were made to adhere to these warnings.
With this being established, Government is now in the process of moving forward with remedial works, and deducting the money from the contractor’s payments.
Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Jaipaul Sharma, said that his government is considering carrying on the various repairs, general road patching and maintenance by in-house contractors.
It was also added that the Ministry has a special project unit that will conduct such works if necessary.
Yesterday, a number of persons who do business along the Sheriff Street/Mandela Avenue thoroughfare were concerned about the completion of the road works.
One man who owns a wash bay at the intersection of Sheriff and Dennis Streets, said that he is “still” greatly affected by the sand and dust created by the now halted works.
He added that even though no works were done yesterday; the passing motor vehicles and strong wind still caused the sand to be blown into his business place.
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