Day 2: Commuters complain as ANSA Mc AL causes more delays

Commuters traversing the East Coast Demerara carriageway, more specifically in the vicinity of the University of Guyana (UG) Access Road, complained bitterly again on Friday about the continuing traffic congestion, and consequent inconvenience in travel, that erection of an arch sponsored by ANSA MCAL has been causing for a second day.

Works being done on Friday morning to install the arch on the East Coast Highway

Traffic was again backed up for a considerable period as workers on the project undertook to have the arch erected in time for its official commissioning today.
Traffic was interrupted from 08:00hrs on Friday, but by late afternoon the bottleneck eased to facilitate works on the structure.
When Guyana Times visited the area on Friday, commuters were, for a second day, outraged at the inconvenience, and screams could be heard emanating from vehicles as insults were being hurled at the workers for causing the build-up of traffic.
Up to late Friday afternoon, when this publication visited the area, workers could still be seen working on the roadways to have the arch ready.
The $19 million structure sponsored by ANSA McAL is being erected in time for an event that the Trinidad-based company is said to be hosting today. Its construction commenced on Thursday with apparently little regard for the great inconvenience visited on the commuting public, but a number of students who were sitting Social Studies paper 2 at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations reportedly arrived late for their examination, with some even reportedly missing the exam.
Persons also reportedly missed their flights at the Eugene F Correia International Airport, and there are reports as well that some had missed the ferry to neighbouring Suriname. Following widespread criticism of the Government on social media, the Department of Public Information (DPI) explained in a release that the fabricator of the arch was late in its delivery, and this had resulted in the installation being set back to Thursday, and not last weekend as was originally scheduled.
The release continued: “Every effort will be made to minimise the disruptions to traffic as the arch is installed”.
The Ministry of Public Infrastructure has pointed out that it had considered doing the arch installation works at night to avoid a situation such as the one that prevailed on Thursday, but “there was an issue of safety for motorists and the installation contractors during installation”.
However, as a result of the construction, commuters travelling on the East Coast were stuck in traffic for as long as four hours in some cases.
The arch at the UG Access Road in Turkeyen will demarcate the eastern entrance into Georgetown, and highlighting Greater Georgetown to the northern end. A similar arch was installed on the East Bank Highway at Agricola, Greater Georgetown last year. It was donated by Banks DIH Limited as a gift for Guyana’s 50th Independence anniversary.