Draft design of Diamond-Ogle Bypass Road by September

Assessment works on the design of the much anticipated bypass road linking the East Bank to the East Coast of Demerara are progressing well, and a draft design is expected to be submitted to Government by the end of September.
This is according to Technical Services Manager attached to the Public

Infrastructure Ministry, Nigel Erskine, who is overseeing the project. India-based consultancy firm RITES Limited is carrying out the 10-month design consultancy project. Since their arrival back in April, RITES’ engineers have been meeting with stakeholders and looking at the alignment.
They have also conducted a series of analyses, including of the earmarked site for the bypass road, as well as submitted several reports of their findings thus far.
According to the Technical Services Manager, the engineers have already submitted their inception report, quality assurance plan, and feasibility report. He noted that they are currently working on the analysis of the pavement for construction, weight control studies and on environmental studies as well.
“So a lot of work is also going on, but designs are already in advanced stage… So we expect that they should submit a draft design report by the end of September, and then the final report will be in February next year [when the design consultancy contract would be up],” Erskine told the Guyana Times.
The Ministry’s Technical Services Manager went on to explain that because the road is going to be construction on new lands, it does create much obstacles for the alignment.
“It’s a green field project, so there isn’t really any major issues that you would encounter so far in terms of the design… There (aren’t) any utilities [in the way], no need to acquire any lands. The elevation of the land is very stable, so there is not many issues that you would encounter [as opposed] to like a developing a design in an area where you have utilities and population,” he pointed out.
This EBD-ECD Bypass project will see some 26 kilometres of road constructed, 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. Those include Diamond, Mocha, Eccles – all on the East Bank – and Aubrey Barker Road in Georgetown.
Meanwhile, Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson had disclosed back in April that Government is also looking at extending the bypass road from Diamond all the way up to the Linden/Soesdyke Highway sometime in the future.
Back in 2016, Finance Minister Winston Jordan signed a US$50 million loan with the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of India for the construction of a 20-kilometre road from Ogle on the East Coast of Demerara to Diamond, East Bank Demerara.
Since the Government of India is funding the project, it is required that the contracts be awarded to companies from that country, and as such, when RITES Limited completes the design consultancy, the bidding process for the construction of the road will be opened to Indian companies.
Erskine said that this process could take about six months before a contractor is selected, and that construction is likely to commence in the last quarter of 2019.
However, during an interview earlier this year, Minister Jordan had told the Guyana Times that he does not foresee this project being fully completed before 2020.
“I don’t see the road becoming a reality before 2020, if I were to hazard a guess. I would love it to be there before, but based on how things go and based on the difficulties of communication and tendering and so on, because everything has to come from India, the consultants and contractors… so they have to do tendering there and tendering here, so it will take some time (before it’s completed),” he opined.
In an effort to reduce traffic congestion for commuters on the East Bank of Demerara, which leads to the country’s main point of entry – the Cheddi Jagan International Airport — the previous People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) regime was working on constructing an ‘East Coast to East Bank’ bypass road, and sought funding from the Indian Government in 2015. The following year, Minister Jordan signed off on the loan.
Pic saved as: Nigel Erskine
Caption: MPI’s Technical Services Manager Nigel Erskine