Eight firms submit bids to supervise construction of new Demerara River Bridge

Jun 03, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – The financial proposals from the eight firms who had applied to supervise the construction of the new Demerara River Bridge back in March were on Tuesday opened at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) office.

A 3D model of the new Demerara Harbour Bridge which was released earlier this year.

The eight bidders are all consortiums firms. The bids are as follow to supervise the construction: Figg Bridge Inspection Inc. in association with E & A Consultant, Dan. B. & Associates- US$459,460, US$7,739,312; RITES Limited in association with CB Associates Inc.- US$9,412,830, US$2,026,804; Dyrock Acuitas Consortium- US$2,630,925, US$11,665,806; WSP Del Istmo S:De R.L Infinity Service Inc.- US$6,774,360, US$1,131,976; Egis Group Consortium- US$1,396,503, US$5,236,888; Politenica Ingegneria in association with SRKN’gineering Associates- US$4,400,000, US$440,000; RADISE International in association with CEMCO Inc., Stantec Consulting International LLC- US$2,192,676, US$15,661,973; and Varaya Enterprise Limited in association with BCC Engineering LLC- US$16,458,213.
Earlier in the year, when the Ministry Public Works had issued its public tender, it stated that the main objective of this consultancy is for the consultant to assist the ministry in the design review, construction supervision and general project management of the construction of the New Demerara Harbour River Bridge and contract administration throughout the project implementation process and thereafter during the defects liability period.
The particulars of the notice further noted that the estimated duration of the project is 24 months from the date of contract signing and at least 12 months thereafter for defects liability from a date to be determined.
The contract for the new four-lane bridge which links Region Four and Three was signed last week Wednesday. The US$260 million was awarded to China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) and its partners, China Railway Caribbean Company Limited and China Railway Engineering Bureau Group Company Limited.
The new bridge which is slated to be completed in two years is said to have a life span of 100 years. Minister within the Public Works Ministry, Deodat Indar at the contract signing ceremony had stated that the length of the bridge is 2.65km and the width of the driving surface is 23.6 meters which is around 77.8 ft. He noted that the bridge is a hybrid design at the navigation span which is also called the high span.
The vertical height at this span he briefed is around 50 meters from the main highest watermark. “That means that a vessel maybe a handymax size vessel can pass freely under the bridge. So that is the kind of traffic that we are accommodating. There are cycle lanes on the bridge and the width of the high span is about 210 meters,” he explained.
The New River Bridge aims to replace the aging Demerara Harbour Bridge. Kaieteur News had reported that the contract for the new DHB was first given to China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited last year to the tune of US$256.6 million.
Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo announced earlier in February, during an interview with a foreign media house that the contract was pulled from that firm as the cost of financing was too high. During the interview, the Vice President said, “we have just terminated the negotiations with them (CSCEC) because the cost of financing is too high.”
The Chinese firm had secured the contract to build the new bridge under a Design-Build-Finance (DBF) model. However, according to information provided in the National Estimates of 2022, the financing of the bridge is not external but rather is being funded by central government. During the reading of the Budget 2022, Senior Minister with responsibility with Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh had announced that this year, some $21.1B has been allocated for the project.

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