$11B in contract signed for Diamond to Buzz Bee Road project

Contractors are mobilising to continue works on the East Bank Demerara (EBD) four-lane highway after $11 billion in contracts were awarded for the Diamond to Buzz Bee Dam project.
This was announced by Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal on Friday. He noted that among the works to be conducted is the rollout of the four-lane roadway with accompanying drainage and revetment facilities.
He did not reveal the names of contractors nor when the road project is expected to commence and a timeline. Attempts to contact the Minister on Saturday for several clarifications proved futile.
However, the first phase of this project was the Mandela-to-Eccles road, on which construction started in April 2021.
For the second phase, the four-lane road was extended beyond Eccles all the way to Great Diamond, East Bank Demerara. The $13.3 billion Eccles to Great Diamond highway project saw 12 companies contracted to construct the four-lane road to run from the Eccles Dumpsite Road all the way to Great Diamond, connecting to the already completed Eccles to Mandela Avenue Highway.
This four-lane road project is a result of efforts by the President Dr Irfaan Ali-led Government to ease traffic congestion on the East Bank, which not only leads to the country’s main port of entry – the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) – but also fields traffic coming from West Demerara.
These projects run alongside the India-funded bypass road project which would link the East Bank Demerara corridor to the East Coast of Demerara (ECD), creating a new highway in the backlands.
The Indian Government had provided a US$50 million Line of Credit (LoC) for the road link that was initially slated for Ogle, ECD, to Diamond. Under the previous Government, however, the project was at a standstill for several years.
Having taken office in 2020, the People’s Progressive Party Administration has since redesigned the project into three phases to fit the LoC. It will now run from Ogle to Haags Bosch at Eccles in the first phase, then from Eccles to Diamond, and finally from Diamond to Timehri to connect to the CJIA. However, the Indian LoC will only cover the first section of the road, that is, from Ogle to Eccles.
President Irfaan Ali has notified that approximately eight interconnecting roads are likely to be built between Eccles and Diamond, to connect old and new highways.
In Budget 2022, an allocation of $2.1 billion was made for the widening and paving of the East Bank highway from Grove to Timehri. In January 2023, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved some US$100 million to commence the Diamond/Grove to Timehri Road project.
Significant investments are particularly being made in advancing the road network to increase better access between the East Bank and East Coast of Demerara, and soon, the two districts will become better integrated into one big city.