143 roads to be constructed, upgraded across Reg 10 – Min. Edghill

Residents from Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Upper Berbice) will now have more modern and improved throughfares as the Public Works Ministry gears up to begin construction of over 140 roads across the region.
This was revealed by Public Works Minister Juan Edghill who recently conducted several community outreaches throughout the region. Whilst engaging with residents the minister shut down claims that the ministry is neglecting Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Upper Berbice).
“The more we do to benefit the people in Linden, we have a small few who are seeking to say that Linden is neglected. Region 10 is getting its fair share of attention like every other region not only from me but from central government through the many other ministers”

In this regard, the minister highlighted that the ministry will be rolling out several infrastructural projects within Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Upper Berbice), one of which will see over 100 roads across the region being constructed and upgraded.
Moreover, the minister revealed that to eliminate biased contract negotiations, moving forward the ministry will be paying contractors the same rate per square metre of road constructed.
“We have taken out the unevenness and the unfair practices because we have agreed on a rate per square metre so everybody who gets the job will get paid the same thing per square metre, so all of these smaller contracts we will engage the contractors but everybody is being paid the same rate.”

Additionally, the minister explained that as part of efforts towards ensuring residents from linden benefit from these projects, the ministry will be selecting skilled individuals to execute construction works for their respective communities.
“We will be engaging the contractors from the communities which means from region 10, they have to be people who could do the work not just because you live in the area. We have a list, we asked the region last year or the year before to submit a list. The Mayor and Town Council submitted a list of other interested people who came and as a result of. We did 75 lots, and we have more roads to do in region 10 so we will have to find contractors to do similarly” he stated
Meanwhile, the government has allocated $221.4 billion to the Ministry of Public Works in the 2024 budget with $204.1billion being allocated to roads and bridges, $2.3billion to air transport, $8.1billion for river transport, and $6.9billion for sea and river defense. Notably for linden, the sum of $4.2 billion has been allocated for the construction of the new Wismar Bridge which commenced this year.