Dochfour road widening project: Consultations commence to compensate homeowners for damages

The Public Works Ministry is overseeing in the community of Dochfour, East Coast Demerara, a consultation process to repair damages on homes incurred during the execution of the East Coast Public Road widening and improvement project.
Some 10 homes being occupied by several individuals within the 30-metre range of the project have been affected, and an additional four persons outside of that parameter are making claims.

Public Works Minister Juan Edghill met with Dochfour residents on Monday to devise a plan to address the issue. During that engagement, Edghill assured that any damage to properties due to the ongoing road construction, either on the Railway Embankment (Sheriff St. to Orange Nassau) or on the East Bank Public Road to Mahaica, will be compensated once proper verifications are made and checked against the contractor’s initial pre-conditional survey. In this regard, he instructed the engineering teams, contractors (China Railway First Group) and consultancy firm on the case to conduct a comprehensive survey of all the homes within the work path in an effort to resolve the ongoing issue promptly.
“By the end of this week, before we continue further up, a conditional survey of every home in the work path must be done inside and outside. We must learn from the lesson,” The Public Works Minister said. “We have an interest in protecting people’s welfare, and we don’t play with that…and the interest in protecting people’s welfare is covered in contract management,” the Minister added.
Following the survey, a cost evaluation will be completed, and if there are still unresolved issues, the Government would acquire a technical engineer outside of the contract to further examine and verify the reasons behind the damages.
Edghill has requested that the residents exercise leniency with the team conducting the works, noting that there will be some periods of discomfort. On this point, he reassured that it is not the Government’s desire to have citizens inconvenienced or their lives disrupted for prolonged periods during the execution of these major projects.
“I will get a report back in about Friday or Saturday, and then, after I review that report, I will hold a meeting with you and the contractor and talk about how we will settle the issues…We take care of a national development project, take care of individual household welfare, we take care of community welfare, and at the end of the process, Guyana is lifted,” Minister Edghill has posited.

Damages
Based on an analysis done by the Works Ministry’s engineers, it has been determined that the initial cause of structural damages sustained by the homes of residents was the milling phase of the project. The damages were worsened by a pre-existing depression at the head of the Hope Bridge and the constant traversing of heavily laden trucks that generated intense vibrations.
Some of the damages consist of internal and external cracks in walls, and breakage of windows in 13 homes.
For the homes outside the coverage parameter, the project’s contracted consultancy firm, Beston Consulting Inc., will provide guidance on the way forward, based on the norms and standards of the FIDIC rule.
Additionally, to ensure each home is inspected, the Ministry would publish the conditional survey on its social media platform.
During the engagement, Minister Edghill also instructed CRFG to install speed bumps on the pathway before the bridge in order to reduce further impact.

Ongoing works
The US$192 million East Coast Public Road widening and improvement project from Annandale to Mahaica commenced in 2023, and is expected to be completed in May 2025. The project aims to enhance the capacity, safety, and efficiency of the East Coast Public Road, a vital thoroughfare in the region.
It involves widening the existing road to accommodate increased traffic volumes, improving intersections and junctions, enhancing pedestrian facilities, and implementing measures to mitigate flooding and erosion along the corridor.