Ogle to Eccles bypass road conceptualised since 2003 – Jagdeo

…says the opposition should be ashamed over false claims

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has revealed that the recently commissioned Ogle to Eccles Road link was conceptualised in 2003 during his presidency and not under the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU + AFC) Coalition, as is being claimed.
The highly anticipated US$133.8 million project, which saw the construction of some 7.8 kilometres of road connecting Ogle on the East Coast of Demerara to Eccles on the East Bank of Demerara, was commissioned on Monday.
However, former Public Infrastructure Minister under the Coalition, David Patterson – the current Chairman of AFC – has sought to claim the project. In fact, he detailed in a recent letter to the editor that “the original design for this project was completed in November 2019”.
But this was strongly rejected by Jagdeo, who disclosed during a press conference on Thursday that the project was conceptualised some 22 years ago at the time when he was President of Guyana.
He pointed to a study done in 2003 looking at an alternative southern approach to Georgetown. That document, Jagdeo explained, detailed an alignment that mapped out road links from Ogle to the East Bank corridor and from Mandela Avenue to Eccles, then running all the way to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
“The alignment is mapped out here that we studied since 2003… we studied it. We had cost, etcetera,” Jagdeo stated, adding that this plan had never been implemented because of the economic state of the country at the time.
“We have the plan here. So, for them to say they conceptualised this project in 2019 – and all of their supporters saying, ‘Look at our great intellectual work that we did,’ is nonsense … I don’t think Patterson even knows about this [study],” the Vice President said on the opposition’s attempt to take credit for the project.
Importantly, however, funding for the road link project was secured in January 2015 by then President Donald Ramotar under the previous People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government – months before the Coalition regime took office in May of that year.
During a visit to New Delhi, an agreement for a US$50 million Line of Credit (LOC) was tied up between President Ramotar and Indian Prime Minister Modi for the construction of a bypass road that was initially slated for Ogle to Diamond, EBD.
But the project cost was driven up to a whopping US$208.1 million by the APNU+AFC administration, and the project languished under them.
When the current PPP/C Government took office in 2020, it redesigned the project into two phases to fit the LOC – first from Ogle to Haags Bosch Road in Eccles, which is about 48-50 per cent of the project, and then from Eccles to Diamond.
The Guyana Government plans to undertake the extension from Diamond all the way to Timehri, where the country’s main port of entry, CJIA, is located.

Be ashamed
The Ogle to Eccles project saw the construction of 7.8 kilometres of road from the East Coast to the East Bank, with each of the four lanes being 3.6 metres wide. The highway will help to ease traffic congestion in Georgetown and provide alternative routes to drivers, especially along the ECD and EBD corridors.
Back in June 2022, the Government signed a US$106 million contract with Indian company Ashoka Buildcon Limited for the construction of the Ogle to Eccles Road link project with a 24-month timeline. RITES Limited, also out of India, secured a US$3.2 million contract for the provision of supervisory services for this project.
During Monday’s commissioning ceremony, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill explained that the modification to the project plans regarding bridges, drainage systems, elevated sections to prevent flooding and a full four-lane design further raised the cost to US$133.8 million – which he says is still lower than the Coalition’s total allocation of some US$275 million, including consultancy and other costs.
In addition to the ECD-EBD road link, the 2003 study also outlined plans for further critical road networks, including the Buzz Bee Dam expansion project that is currently undertaken by the Government.
Jagdeo noted that the PPP is the only party that documented strategic plans, dating back to 1996, for the infrastructure development of the country – many of which have already been rolled out, such as an airport at Ogle, expansion of the CJIA runway, a new fixed high-span bridge across the Demerara River to replace the floating structure, a bridge across the Berbice River, and the Takutu Bridge in Lethem connecting to Brazil, among others.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Government is now designing another highway connecting the Ogle to Eccles Road with the Heroes Highway and the existing East Bank of Demerara Public Road.
This was revealed by President Irfaan Ali during Monday’s road commissioning, where he stated that “We will also have very soon the interconnection of the Houston Highway; that is what we call the Houston interconnection that is under design now. That will be another four-lane road that will connect this highway (Ogle to Eccles), Heroes Highway, Houston and then goes out back again to the old East Bank highway.”
The President noted that the new Ogle to Eccles Road will also have a new interconnection to the Heroes Highway at Providence to extend to the Demerara River Bridge, and a third connection will be a flyover of the Heroes Highway.
“…So, it will be seamless; there will be no stopping of traffic on the Heroes Highway or traffic coming all the way to the East Coast,” he said.
Already, the Ministry of Public Works has extended the Aubrey Barker Road which leads into South Ruimveldt from Mandela Avenue and the Conversation Tree Road on the East Coast of Demerara.
Further along the East Bank corridor, the Head of State disclosed that works have started on a new road linking Land of Canaan to Buzz Bee Dam with connections along Kaneville, Diamond and Grove.
Simultaneously, the Government has completed the design of a new road from Land of Canaan to the new Soesdyke–Linden Highway that is being rehabilitated. Moreover, works are also ongoing to upgrade the Timehri-East Bank corridor and expand the Railway Embankment Line on the East Coast of Demerara from Sheriff Street to Mahaica.