Contracts awarded for Wakenaam, Leguan sea defence works

…Parika-Goshen road to be rehabilitated

With sea defence works ongoing along various sections in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), the Public Infrastructure Ministry has announced that contracts have also been awarded for works on the islands of Leguan and Wakenaam.

Making this revelation earlier this week, Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson noted that, with those plans for the latter part of this year, 1.2 km of road works at Windsor Forest, Waller’s Delight and Ruimzeight have already been completed.
“We look forward to have this momentum going throughout this year. We’ve also awarded contracts for sea defences in Leguan and Wakenaam. We have sea defence work structures to be done in Uitvlugt, Leonora, Den Amstel, and rehabilitation of sluices along the West Coast of Demerara. All works are slated for completion this year. In fact, as of today, sea defence works remain ongoing in De Willem,” he said.
He noted that while those projects are ongoing, rehabilitation and other projects will be slated for next year. Meanwhile, emergency works along the West Coast of Demerara (WCD) have been approved by Cabinet after ruptures had been caused during the high tide in March.
During an interview with Guyana Times a few weeks ago, Chief Sea and River Defence Officer Kevin Samad had indicated that four projects would be tendered, but evaluations were still ongoing at that time. However, he posited that the projects are expected to begin at the end of the month.
Three of the projects will see the construction of rip-rap structures at Leonora, Uitvlugt and Den Amstel, while the fourth involves rehabilitation of several drainage structures.
“We’ve had a temporary intervention which would entail placing some rocks for the critical section at Uitvlugt. The current status is that we went ahead with four projects on the West Coast for rip-rap works at Leonora, behind the hospital; Uitvlugt; the Den Amstel area; some other areas along the coast; at Windsor Forest and Blankenburg, where we have the sluices and drainage structures,” Samad noted.
Samad also highlighted that the unit is pushing to commence the works at the earliest, and as such, the works would commence before the next spring tide, during October/November.
“It depends on the contractors that are successful with the necessary resources required; and at this point, I wouldn’t be able to say which contractor will be going first. But with our timeline, we would want all the contractors to mobilise at least by July month-end to August, before we have our next high tide in October-November,” Samad explained.
Meanwhile, consultations for other works will be facilitated later this month by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), which will focus on the upgrade of the Parika Stelling. This project is expected to last for approximately six to eight months.
“On July 27, 2018, the CDB will be (conducting) studies for the upgrade of the Parika Stelling; and we do anticipate that those studies will take approximately six to eight months, and we can actually hope that we can have some work commencing in 2019,” he added.
Minister Patterson indicated that the much-awaited feasibility study was also completed for the Parika/Goshen Road, and the ministry is seeking to complete the project via a public-private partnership.
“The feasibility for the Parika/Goshen Road has been completed, except one element; and we do anticipate that we will be going out with a request for a public-private partnership to ensure that that road be commenced and completed as well,” Minister Patterson has said.