Chinese, Brazilian companies bidding for Grove-Timehri road upgrade

The opening of bids at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) has revealed that the companies in the running for the contract to upgrade the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) road from Grove to Timehri, include ones from China and Brazil.

Based on the bids that were opened, at least four Chinese companies have bid to be prequalified for the contract. They include China Railway First Group and China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group. Also, bidding was China Railway Construction (Caribbean) Company Limited.
China Road and Bridge Corporation, another Chinese company, also submitted a bid. Meanwhile, Alya Construtora SA, a company based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, also submitted a bid to be prequalified for the project.
Rounding out the bidders was Mir Akhter Hossain Guy Inc. The company’s principal address is located in Bangladesh.
The Government has been undertaking the upgrade and expansion of the two-lane road at Grove (from the entrance to Diamond Housing Scheme) all the way to Timehri. Public Works Minister Juan Edghill had said that work on this road would start this year.
“We are going to be doing a major upgrade from Diamond to Timehri in 2022. You know what that means, you imagine a road being upgraded between Diamond and Timehri – we’re talking about strictly night work. Even in a slack time, between Diamond and Craig and Hope, the traffic is so enormous. We have to start doing things differently… that things cannot remain the same,” the Public Works Minister had said.
Some $2.1 billion was set aside in Budget 2022 for the widening and paving of the East Bank Highway from Grove to Timehri. This project ties in with the overall work being done to connect the East Bank and the East Coast of Demerara through the Ogle-Diamond bypass road and the Eccles-to-Mandela Road, which has already been completed.
The Ogle-Diamond bypass project will see the construction of some 26 kilometres of road linking two of the country’s main thoroughfares. This new road link will also be connected to key communities in Georgetown and along the East Bank of Demerara. These include Diamond, Mocha and Eccles – all on the East Bank – and Aubrey Barker Road in Georgetown. These connections will prove crucial in diverting traffic.
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.
Meanwhile, the bypass road project falls in line with the Dr Irfaan Ali-led People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government’s “comprehensive highway development plan”. This plan includes the alternative four-lane highway from Mandela Avenue to Eccles, which was completed in April to the tune of $2.3 billion.
That road is now being extended from Eccles to Great Diamond. Upon completion, the new road is expected to further reduce traffic congestion along the East Bank Demerara corridor.
Contracts to the tune of $13.3 billion were awarded to 12 contractors last December to construct the extended four-lane road. It has been reported the road will be further extended to Craig, EBD, in order to alleviate the bottlenecks between Diamond and Grove on the East Bank.