New Demerara River Bridge Consultation off to a bad start

Mar 26, 2022 News

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…Patterson calls for design first

Kaieteur News – The Environmental Assessment Board (EAB), an arm of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is set to host a public consultation in the new week on the impacts of the new Demerara River Bridge. However, former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, holds the view that a consultation without a design for consideration is equivalent to building a house without any foundation.

In a recent interview with Kaieteur News, Patterson said a design of the structure would determine the noise, traffic and other key impacts the project will have on nearby residents. To this end, he concluded that a design must be submitted first for one to effectively measure or quantify the impacts residents can possibly brace for.

In fact, the former Minister argued that the country is still in the dark as to whether the government has accepted the proposal from the second best bidder for the project. In February, Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed that negotiations with China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd. were terminated, as the cost of financing was too high.
The company had submitted the lowest bid of US$256,638,289 to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), but currently government is in talks with the company that will be constructing the Amaila Falls Hydropower plant, to build the new Demerara River Bridge.
Although it has been just close to two months since the announcement, the Irfaan Ali-led administration has not made a pronouncement on whether the proposal by the new company has been approved.
To this end, Patterson said, “They disclosed during the Su interview that they are going to the second bidder but they have not disclosed what the result of the negotiations with the second bidder was.”

As a consequence, he argued, “It is unclear what they are going to consult the people about, because there is no design, there is no cost, they don’t know exactly how, based on this new design how many houses will be relocated, what would be the noise nuisance, the traffic inconvenience, there is absolutely nothing in the public space that I have seen about this project other than that they cancelled the first bidder which Cabinet approved in November last year.”

The former Minister of Public Infrastructure is adamant that the design of the new crossing would determine where connector roads would be built or developed, the level of pollution, in terms of dust and noise and others.

“It is very unclear as to what they will be consulting the people on. The type of bridge, where the roads are going to go, what is the pollution, noise and dust and things like that can’t be determined at this stage in the absence of a design, unless they have signed something and not told the public what they have done,” he asserted.

Further to this, Patterson said he believes the consultation process is a mere “smoke-screen” to convince the public that the project is still alive, when in reality, the entire process ought to be reformulated.

Last August, the EPA said an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was not required for the construction of the structure, as it will not “significantly” affect the environment.
However, according to the regulator’s Screening Decision for the project, published on its website, it was explained that impacts to air quality can be expected, coupled with noise and vibrations and surface water quality. Some 24 lots are expected to be acquired to facilitate the new bridge as well, while approximately 2,360m2 (47.2m x 50m) of mangroves will also be removed on the Western end of the Demerara River to facilitate the bridge.

In November 2020, the Government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Public Works invited Expressions of Interest for the construction of a new bridge across the Demerara River. It was in October of last year that bids were received from contractors for the design, construction and financing of the proposed four-lane structure.

Even though government said the contractors would be financing the project, in its 2022 Budget some $21.1B was allocated for the construction of the new bridge.
On November 1, last year, the Ministry of Finance announced that Cabinet had granted its no-objection for the Ministry of Public Works to engage China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd. to construct the new bridge. At that time, it was pointed out that the project would be done under the Design Finance and Build (DFB) model with construction expected to conclude within two years.

It was later revealed that government was in talks with the second lowest bidder, a Consortium of Chinese companies to construct the new bridge. The firms are: China Railway Construction Corporation International, China Railway Caribbean Company Limited and China Railway Engineering Bureau Group Company Limited submitted three financial proposals of US$260,852,464, US$260,852,464 and US$300,000,000.
For this project, bidders were advised by the Ministry that they are required to bid on two options, a Design–Build-Finance option and a Design-Build-Operate, and Finance option. It is unclear as to which option the government has selected.
The proposed location for the New Demerara River Bridge will see the structure being laid between Nandy Park, East Bank Demerara and La Grange on the Western end of the Demerara River.
The public consultation on the new bridge is scheduled for 14:00hrs (2pm) on Tuesday, March 29, 2022 in the conference Room of the Cara Lodge Hotel on Quamina Street, Georgetown.

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