$100M in LED screens commissioned along East Bank corridor
Aiming to direct Guyana into the ever-growing technological era, former journalist turned businessman, Leonard Gildharie on Saturday last commissioned four 18ft x 10ft high-definition LED screens, estimated at $100 million, at various points along the East Bank corridor.
The four high-definition LED screens, according to Gildharie, are intended to provide real-time viewing of the traffic flow.
One of the four screens. This one is located at Houston
The screens were installed at Houston, Peters Hall, and Diamond. The screens have become an advertising medium for many major companies such as the Guyana Bank of Trade and Industry (GBTI), Beharry, KFC, and many more.
However, at the commissioning, the businessman related that the screens were not conceptualised for advertising purposes.
He noted that it is Pixels Guyana Inc’s corporate responsibility to inform the citizens about not only the traffic state but to educate the public on social ills.
“From the onset, we’ve been using these 4k high-definition screens to showcase public service ads to talk about crime. I told my guys, my GM (General Manager), [and] my team, I don’t want to see ads alone up there. We have a cooperative responsibility to Guyana…. We need to educate our people. So, I said, please make at least 15 per cent of those spaces available during 5 am in the morning to 11 in the evening to make sure that we educate our people,” Gildharie explained.
Moreover, eight HD traffic cameras were also officially commissioned which will provide a real-time view of the East Bank traffic via Pixels Guyana Inc’s Facebook page.
“We bought some cameras, some high-definition cameras, and I put [them] on the overpass, and I said we are going to stream from time to time what’s the traffic situation. And the day we put it down, I was sitting, and I told Neil, ‘can we put that thing up on Facebook and see how it’s going to interact with Facebook?’ We tried it and it worked.”
However, Private Sector Commission (PSC) Vice Chairman Ryan Alexander, while delivering remarks, stated that he along with the private sector community is delighted to know that such a project is 100 per cent Guyanese-owned.
He added that the project shows the transformation of Guyana as the country is in an economic uprise with its growing oil sector.
The state of traffic along the East Bank on Monday, as seen by Pixels Guyana Inc traffic cams
“This activity, this effort, is one that Leonard has put forward is one that will show physically the transformation and infrastructure in Guyana,” Vice Chairman Alexander posited.
In addition, Minister within the of Public Works Ministry, Deodat Indar said that the use of the screens has provided a solution to a long-standing problem.
He explained that with the use of the livestream features, Guyanese can keep abreast with the state of the traffic, which could possibly prevent a traffic build-up from happening, as commuters would know the state of the traffic prior.
That, he said, “was a mischief that was dealt with”.
