Min Ramraj pushes for strict timelines on Corentyne Highway expansion project

The Corentyne Highway expansion is now one of the largest ongoing infrastructure projects in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) but while work is currently advancing, records show the project did not begin recently, with billions of dollars allocated and spent over several years. Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Madanlall Ramraj, on Thursday visited sections of the Palmyra to Moleson Creek Highway expansion project, where he met with engineers, contractors, and supervisory teams as the Government continues to push for timely completion and strict quality control.

The four-lane highway project has been allocated $15.1 billion in the 2026 national budget, as part of ongoing efforts to advance development. The Minister said the initiative is aimed at transforming Region Six, noting that improved road infrastructure will enhance connectivity, support business activity and expand access to essential services. The project, which will transform the existing roadway into a four-lane highway from Palmyra to Moleson Creek, is intended to improve traffic flow, enhance safety, and strengthen trade with Suriname.
However, this project has been ongoing for years, with funding, tendering, and construction activity dating back as early as 2022. In that year, $8.3 billion was allocated in the national budget for the rehabilitation of the Corentyne Main Road from Palmyra to Crabwood Creek. At the same time, procurement was already underway for what was described as the “Expansion of the New Amsterdam to Corentyne Highway Phase One,” divided into multiple lots.

By 2023, the project had moved into a more defined and heavily funded phase. The official Public Sector Investment Programme recorded a total project cost of $105.52 billion, with $9.12 billion already spent before 2023, and a further $33.85 billion budgeted for that year. According to the 2023 mid-year report, works were already ongoing on new bridges and structures along the corridor, as well as the relocation of utilities, indicating that the structural expansion phase was actively underway. In 2024, the Government reported that work had commenced on the reconstruction of ninety-nine structures, including bridges and culverts, and the continued clearing of utilities from the highway corridor. Works on those structures are still ongoing and some of them are far from completion in April 2026. It was in 2025 that the project was formally separated into a standalone major highway development; the New Amsterdam to Moleson Creek Highway, with a $15.5 billion budget to commence work on the four-lane road.
Procurement for that phase shows major international and regional contractors participating in the bidding process, including China Road and Bridge Corporation and Vishwa Samudra Engineering, with bids for individual lots ranging from approximately US$189 million to over US$257 million. In 2026, the project continues to advance, with a further $15.1 billion allocated; $4.83 billion had already been spent before this year on the current highway package.
The works are being executed across multiple lots by contractors, including China Road and Bridge Corporation and Vishwa Samudra Engineering Ltd., under the supervision of engineering consultants.
A major component of the project remains the expansion and reconstruction of bridges and drainage structures, works that were financed and initiated years before the current phase of highway construction and to this day are incomplete, but which are critical for both flood mitigation and the widening of the roadway.
With billions of dollars already committed across multiple budget cycles, from $8.3 billion in 2022, to over $33 billion in 2023, and continued allocations through to 2026, the Corentyne Highway expansion represents a long-term, multi-phase national investment that is still very much in progress.