Guyana secures US$192M loan for Phase 2 of ECD road project

The Governments of Guyana and China on Friday signed a Framework Concessional Loan Agreement to the tune of US$192 million for the funding of Phase II of the East Coast Road Project.
The signing was done by Senior Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh, and Chinese Ambassador to Guyana, Guo Haiyan. Public Works Minister Juan Edghill and other officials of the Finance Ministry and the Chinese Embassy also witnessed the inking of the loan agreement.
Phase II of the project will include an extension of the Railway Embankment Road into four lanes from Sherriff Street to Orange Nassau, an extension of the main East Coast Roadway from Orange Nassau to Mahaica as well as rehabilitation of the existing East Coast Demerara Road from Belfield to Orange Nassau which will allow for additional lanes.

This Phase will also see the construction of 48 bridges and 22 culverts and another bridge across the Hope Canal.
According to the Finance Ministry, the loan for the project is being provided by the Export/Import (Exim) Bank of China. Phase I of the project was done during the previous term of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration and included the extension of the East Coast main road, which was also funded by the Chinese Exim Bank.
Prior to signing the loan agreement, Minister Singh pointed out that this road project, upon completion, would not only allow for the ease of traffic congestion and decrease in commute time along the East Coast corridor, but will also foster the ramping-up of economic activity and development occurring under the stewardship of the PPP/C Government.
The Finance Minister also highlighted the increase in vehicular traffic owing to more persons being able to own their own homes and vehicles while the PPP/C was in office. He also alluded to the increase in the number of trucks and other large vehicles carrying goods and materials and noted that this was a reflection of the construction and development boom.
“This is something that we welcome…in response to it, we take very seriously the obligation to expand our road network to ease this pressure and so as soon as President [Dr Irfaan] Ali came into office, Government set about an aggressive campaign to immediately transform our transport network. We have seen already parallel bypass roads constructed on the East Bank. Today you can drive from Sheriff Street to Diamond without ever touching the traditional East Bank Road as we know…,” he emphasised.
Dr Singh further added that Government was building an Ogle-to-Diamond Road so that there would be multiple roads, pointing out that Government was not only addressing the EBD, but also the ECD as Government continues building out to provide an additional artery for travel between the East Coast and the East Bank, which ultimately forms an important part of Government’s transport infrastructure modernisation plans.
Meanwhile, following Friday’s simple signing ceremony, Ambassador Guo recalled that Guyana and China only recently celebrated 50 years of good relations, cooperation, mutual respect and mutual support and benefit. She noted that China cherishes friendship and cooperation with Guyana.
The Chinese diplomat added that China was willing to strengthen this cooperation and the road-building project formed part of its global development initiative.
“We believe that the project borne through the cooperation of the two countries will bring more benefit for people. The current financial situation is so volatile and poses a great challenge to developing countries and the concessional loan demonstrates China’s commitment to common development and gives an indication of China’s confidence in Guyana’s development and in the two countries’ bilateral cooperation,” Ambassador Guo added.
On the other hand, Minister Edghill noted that the road project was a major intervention in the road network along the East Coast corridor and would create greater accessibility, especially with the kinds of investments that the President Ali-led Administration was making and the possibilities of what could develop at Enmore in terms of industrialisation and job-creation for people on the East Coast corridor.
“The already congested new four lane needs to be supported by additional carriageways. It was the PPP/C while in office in the 2011 period that started that East Coast expansion and widening and here, we are today. It will see the Railway Embankment from Sheriff Street (from the roundabout) to Orange Nassau being expanded into four lanes then the expansion of the East Coast.”
“Then there will be the rehabilitation of the existing ECD road from Belfield to Orange Nassau. This will allow us to have additional lanes (four lanes on the Railway Embankment and for some sections-two lanes so that we’ll be able to see greater comfort in commuting into the city or out of the city while allowing for larger capacity in terms of containerised traffic to help with the movement of goods that will eventually evolve with the development of Enmore as a major job-creation centre,” the Public Works Minister stated.