Moving ahead with its development agenda that will see an enhancement of traffic flow along the East Bank of Demerara corridor, the Government has retailored the Ogle to Diamond bypass road project to conform with the loan available to execute the major works.
Project Design of the East Coast-East Bank Linkage Project
Speaking with the Department of Public Information, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar said the new four lane East Coast-East Bank Linkage Project will extend from Ogle to Hague Bosch, rather than to Diamond. This move will spare taxpayers approximately USD$158Million.
“What was driving up that [project] cost was a number of connectors on the road,” Minister Indar cited.
Identifying the previously proposed connection at Mocha as a difficult area to execute works, the Minister noted the swamp terrain saw astronomical increases in the total project cost.
Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar (Photo Credit: MPW)
“For you to do those swamps, the cost of the earth works pushed up the cost to $208Million. Remember, the Indian Government only had $50Million allocated to this project. So, we had to redesign the project to bring it to the original design,” Minister Indar explained.
The Minister further confirmed that India has accepted the new design for the roadworks. As such, the Government is moving ahead to implement the project that was stalled.
At the completion of Phase 1 of the project (Ogle to Hague Bosch), Minister Indar said the administration will forge ahead with the extension of the bypass road further up the East Bank of Demerara to Timehri.
The project reportedly has three distinctive stages; Stage One – Detailed Project Report Preparation; Stage Two – Construction Supervision, and Stage Three – Post Construction/ Defects Liability Period.
Currently, the East Bank Highway is the only exit route available to residents who occupy Georgetown, the East Coast of Demerara and the East Bank of Demerara.
It will also provide a bypass from the city, where most traffic flows daily, resulting in massive congestion and major delays.
[Extracted and Modified from DPI]
