4-lane highway to Mahaica currently in procurement stage – Edghill

…2-lane road from Belfield to Orange Nassau to be upgraded

Works are progressing on preparations for the expansion of the railway embankment to Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD), and according to Public Works Minister Juan Edghill, a four-lane highway is in its procurement stage.
Edghill made this disclosure during a recent ministerial outreach, where he informed residents along the East Coast that the project is part of the Government’s transformational drive for Guyana.
“There is a major project that is in the procurement stage from Sheriff Street roundabout, all the way up to Mahaica on the railway embankment, we are bringing that to a four-lane road,” Minister Edghill said.
He also informed them that the two-lane road from Belfield to Orange Nassau will be upgraded. This is a proactive move in order to improve traffic flow, which is likely to increase as more and more economic development takes place.
“It means that with the industrialisation that will take place at Enmore where people from Melanie, Buxton, Golden Grove and Victoria will be able to get jobs in the oil and gas sector. To support that, you have to have the large, wide thoroughfares to move the containerised traffic to enable industrialisation coming to your area,” Edghill stated.

The infrastructural development is in keeping with the rapid expansion of the country’s economy. On the East Coast alone, major investments are being made by both Government and the private sector locally, regionally and internationally.
Back in June when the contract for the East Coast Demerara-East Bank Demerara road link project was being discussed, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh had talked about extending the four-lane road from Sheriff Street to Buxton and beyond.
“When I say brand new four-lane road, I’m speaking here of the alignment along the existing railway embankment road but widening that existing railway embankment road to a new four-lane highway from Sheriff Street to Orange Nassau, like I said with plans to go beyond,” Dr Singh had said.
At the time, a US$106 million contract had been signed between the Public Works Ministry and India-based Ashoka Buildcon Limited, for the construction of a four-lane bypass road that will link the East Coast of Demerara corridor at Ogle directly to the East Bank Demerara corridor at Eccles.
Back in 2015, the Indian Government had provided the US$50 million credit line for the road link that was initially slated for Ogle to Diamond, EBD. However, the project cost was driven up to over $208 million by the previous A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government and the project languished under them.
However, when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government took office in 2020, it redesigned the project into two phases to fit the LOC – first from Ogle to Haags Bosch road in Eccles, which is about 48-50 per cent of the project, and then from Eccles to Diamond – in order to fit the US$50 million LOC.
The Guyana Government will be undertaking the extension from Diamond all the way to Timehri. It was announced in January of this year that Ashoka Buildcon Limited won the contract to construct the road, ahead of two other Indian companies.
Ashoka has built a number of bridges and roads. According to the company’s website, it even built a bridge in 38 days, namely the Mandve Bridge near Pandharpur, India. The company said the bridge was supposed to be built in 12 months. (G3)