Govt. spent $513M to upgrade Ituni to Tacama road

Oct 29, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – Rehabilitation works on the 43km of road between Ituni and Tacama in Region 10 has finally been completed. The road was being upgraded under the National Irrigation and Drainage Authority agency (NDIA) to the tune of $513 million.

The recently upgraded Ituni to Tacama road. (Photo credit: President Irfaan Ali)

Works on the road started last year when the Ministry of Agriculture had awarded phase one of the project to private construction company, Castilho Engenharia Incorporated in the amount of $261.7 million back in October 2021. Castilho was contracted to rehabilitate an 18-km stretch of road along the Ituni to Tacama trail.

At the signing of that contract, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha had stated that the rehabilitation of this road will allow access to thousands of acres of farmlands and will allow more unused lands to be available for cultivation.

Senior Minister within the Office of the President, with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh during his 2022 budget presentation, told the National Assembly that some $426 million has been allocated for the completion of the road.

He further noted that the 47 kilometres of farm to market road will stretch from the junction of the Linden-Ituni road, heading east towards the Berbice River. The project, he said, will open up approximately 61,000 hectares of prime farmland in the Tacama, Wiruni, and Ebini Savannahs on the eastern side of the Berbice River.

Following that phase, in July this year, the agency again awarded another contract for phase two of the project. NDIA had inked a $251,440,000 contract with Associated Construction Service, which was contracted to complete 25 km of road.

This project, which falls under the Agriculture Development Initiatives, is said to provide access to over 30,000 acres of savannah lands and grain cultivations. In addition, the Ministry had stated that the area will benefit from reduced cost of production through the reduction of transportation cost that is expected with the completion of this road.

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