Encroachments must go – Edghill orders removal of illegal stalls at B Field, Dennis St

Encroachments along sections of B Field Sophia and the Dennis Street, Georgetown corridor are set to be removed as the Government of Guyana moves ahead with major infrastructure upgrades, including a full rehabilitation of B Field and the expansion of Dennis Street into a four-lane roadway, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill announced on site on Tuesday.
The Minister stated that the Government has engaged a contractor for the full upgrade of B Field Sophia, similar to the work being done in E Field Sophia. The Dennis Street corridor has also been earmarked for an upgrade.
One of the current challenges in the area involves traffic flow on Dennis Street, where two lanes are on one side of the trench and two on the other. The Government has been discussing this issue for several months and has sought to remove all encumbrances from the reserve and carriageway.

Encroachments
The Public Works Minister explained that in both B Field and E Field, wherever encroachments existed, the Government had made provisions to construct tarmacs to transition vendors off the roadway, allowing them to continue operating their businesses without disruption. He emphasised that these measures ensure no one is being displaced or put out of business, whether they sell food, groceries, or other goods.
Amidst this, he underlined the situation with two unoccupied stalls that had been abandoned for a long period. “We have a situation, however, where these two stalls have been unoccupied for a long period, and we’ve been trying to make contact with the owners or the persons concerned, but we have not been able to do so. Right now, we have a need, a great need, and this has to be addressed swiftly,” he said, highlighting the urgency of the matter due to the arrival of a long-haul trailer to carry sheet piles for the B Field project.
“These tarmacs are being made, but tonight [Tuesday] we must have these encroachments removed so that we’ll be able to get the piles in. The reason I’m doing this live is so anybody concerned can come and talk to us and let us know, because with immediate effect we want to be able to dismantle this,” he added.
Speaking directly to the owners, the Minister said, “If you’re the owner, come and collect your materials. Once we dismantle them, we will have to discard them, because we cannot allow this. But we must be able to get the trucks to turn in. This is the danger when people put up structures on the roadway.”
He further explained that the removal was necessary because structures on the shoulder of the road pose a risk when long vehicles attempt to turn. “If you put a structure on the shoulder of a road and a long vehicle has to make a turn, the piles will hit everything here and be demolished,” the Minister said, urging affected persons to contact the Ministry.
Edghill emphasised that the areas in question were clearly abandoned and that no one would reasonably claim they were occupied. He noted that Government officials had inspected the carriageway multiple times and had already removed seven substructures overgrown with grass and litter. He urged concerned persons to contact the Ministry, explaining that only three stalls would be removed to allow trucks to safely turn in for the project. He added that the announcement was also intended to address misinformation on social media, where some believed they could pressure the Government.
“So please, if this concerns you, contact the Ministry, because the operation will remove just these three stalls to allow the truck to make the turn coming in with the sheet pack. We wanted to make this known. One of the reasons we are here is that people are doing things and believe if they go to social media, they can put pressure on the Government,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Minister noted that a new bridge is being constructed at the head of the corridor to address the morning traffic bottleneck. He called for community cooperation, emphasising that collaboration with the Government is key to achieving meaningful transformation in local areas. The Minister added that Budget 2036 prioritises the people, with all projects designed to ensure that residents benefit.