Greenlight given for US $12.5M Eccles-Mandela road

Apr 02, 2021 News

---

By Gary Eleazar

Kaieteur News – The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) under the remit of the Ministry of Housing and Water, on Thursday inked six contracts for the construction of the Eccles, East Bank Demerara (EBD) to Mandela Avenue road, to the tune of some of US $12.5M or $2.3B.
The modest signing ceremony was held at the Ministry’s boardroom under the auspices of substantive Minister, Colin Croal and his Deputy Minister, Susan Rodrigues.
They were joined by CH&PA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sherwin Greaves along with representatives for the successful bidders.
Contractors
Those awarded contracts for sections of the road project were identified as Guyamerica Construction Inc., which secured Lot 1 of the project at $555,058,718 million—the largest tranche of the six.
Aronco Services Inc., secured the second largest tranche of contracts inked for the road, to the tune of $471,033,838 million, followed by a foreign Joint Venture for the third largest component, to the tune of $364,474,818.
The Joint Venture partners were identified as MTSUL Contrucoes Ltda, M&P Investment Inc., and Constuira Cobra Eireli—based in Brazil.
JS Guyana Inc., was handed a contract for $352, 411, 136 million, while Puran Bros Disposal Inc., secured Lot 3 of the project, at $360,232,635 million.
A Joint Venture arrangement between Colin Talbot Contracting Services and Eron Lall Civil Engineering Works, snagged up the remainder of the works for a contract for lot 4, valued at $256,703,370 million.
The total contract valued at $2,359,914,515 billion was divided into six sub-lots and entails the construction of a four-lane road having a dual carriageway of two lanes each.
It was pointed out that the proposed roadway will be a jointed reinforced concrete pavement design – a first in the country, according to CEO Greaves.
He informed stakeholders that the design for the project were conducted in-house, with the scope of works including land clearing and drain cleaning, construction of 5.4 kilometres of earthen drains and 200 metres of reinforced concrete drains, in addition to culverts, pavement carriageways, heavy duty bridges and the installation of solar powered street lighting, among other specifications. The six successful contractors were selected from a pool of 27 that had submitted tenders for the projects.
Deliver on Time
The procurement process, according to the Ministry, commenced at the end of January last with bids closing on February 25, which was followed by a Cabinet No Objection for the National Procurement and Tender Board, to green-light the scheduled eight months duration of works.
Witnessing the signing ceremony, substantive Minister Croal used the occasion to issue a stern warning to contractors with regards the road being constructed within its stipulated timeline and specifications.
Addressing the gathering, Croal noted that the initiative sees the injection of some $2.3B for this four lane concrete road, and “we are therefore charging you to ensure that you deliver not only on quality but in a timely manner”
Minister Croal was adamant, “…we will be monitoring for quality, supervision is important, but equally important, we would like for you, to as quickly as possible, to have these jobs completed, the nation awaits you and a lot of eyes are on you.”
Speaking to the composition of the successful contractors, Minister Croal remarked, “we are happy to see a mix, because of the magnitude of the contract, we have both local and international companies, so we have a mix; it speaks well about our capacity locally that we can have persons who can compete.”
He reminded of the latest round of road contracts to be inked by CH&PA and by extension the Ministry under his purview, comes on the heels of a recent similar occasion where some $14B were inked for varying contracts related to the construction of new housing schemes.
High Standard
According to Croal, the new road, complemented with the Eccles to Diamond EBD bypass road—when completed—will directly benefit some 18,800 households that reside along the corridor.
Reinforcing the importance of completing the project to specification, CH&PA CEO Greaves, told those in attendance, specifically contractors and their representatives “to put your best foot forward.”
Addressing the contractors, Greaves reiterated “members from this ministry and this agency and other institutions will be looking on closely at your performance, so we expect you to perform at a very high standard.”
Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues, in her remarks to the gathering sought to underscore that the occasion reflects the pace with which the Ministry is embarking on fulfilling its mandate.
She noted that while the activity may appear to be a simple contract signing, “…it will have a significant impact on the lives of Guyanese; it will not just change the physical infrastructure of our country but it will transform lives.”
Minister Rodrigues also used the occasion to underscore the importance “of sticking to timelines” and implored on contractors, “that as long as we can stick to our timelines, there is much more scope and much more room for us to conceptualize and execute similar projects like this.”
Under the provisions of the contracts inked, works are scheduled to commence on April 14, with a completion date set for December 10.

---

---