Contract signed for US$184M Railway Embankment expansion

The expansion project of the railway embankment spanning Sheriff Street to Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, is in the mobilisation stage – after a US$184 million contract was signed.
Public Works Minister Juan Edghill communicated in a recent interview that China Railway First Group Limited will be executing the project, having worked previously on the four-lane expansion of the East Coast Demerara public road.
“The contract was won by China Railway First Group. It is the same company that won the bid for the four-lane project on the eastern corridor. I think its US$184 million,” Edghill informed.
In the past weeks, efforts have been geared at mobilising to get the project rolling. The project is two-pronged: the completion of phase two of the East Coast Demerara road widening and improvement project from Annandale to Mahaica; and the construction of a four-lane road along the railway embankment corridor from Sheriff Street to Orange Nassau.
“I guess the final mobilisation and all of those arrangements, that has happened over the last couple of weeks. So, they’re in the mobilisation stage and getting those things moving.”

Only two companies had bid for this project. China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) – known for projects in Guyana such as the upgrade works at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
China Railway First Group Company Limited, is also no stranger to Guyana, having been in talks with the Government since last year on the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP), to construct it in a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) arrangement.
The State-owned Chinese company has been involved in the AFHP since 2008 when the initiative was first conceptualised under a previous People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration.
This year, some $49.2 billion was allocated for road works. Of this amount, money was set aside for the widening of the ECD highway from Annandale to Mahaica, as well as upgrading the railway embankment from Sheriff Street to Orange Nassau.
There is another contract, the redesign, and widening of the road from Belfield, ECD, to Rosignol, West Coast Berbice (WCB). The Belfield to Rosignol road widening was intended to be a continuation of the East Coast Road Widening and Expansion Project, which was commissioned in 2020. The US$50.2 million project was supposed to have two components: a four-lane expansion from Better Hope to Annandale, and an upgrade to the existing two-lane road from Annandale to Belfield.
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 even talked about extending the four-lane road from Sheriff Street to Buxton and beyond.
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. (G12)