Relocation for new Demerara River bridge: Fair market value, varying compensation – Edghill

By Nathifa Punch

In light of preparations for the building of the new Demerara River bridge, a small number of properties aback Nandy Park, East Bank Demerara (EBD) where the bridge will land are expected to be demolished to facilitate this process.
However, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill has reassured that the acquisition of the properties would be done at fair market value as required by law.

“The law requires us to acquire at fair market value,” the Minister stated.
“We can’t take somebody’s property and don’t pay them. The law requires fair market value…And there’s a process to go through with that,” he further indicated.
“And it will not be until there is a full resolution on which properties will have to be acquired and the process in acquiring of those properties is followed…we have to be able to name the properties, get to the property owners, we’re not there yet.”
Article 142 of the Constitution of Guyana and the Acquisition of Lands for Public Purposes Act are the two legal frameworks which will guide the Government in its process of acquiring the privately-owned lands that are needed for the new Demerara River Bridge project.
While noting that different persons may prefer to be compensated differently, the Minister stated that this process would entail the Government and parties to be compensated deriving a common solution.
“It is something that is worked out with the Government and the parties that are concerned. Different people might prefer different things. We’re not at that stage yet,” Edghill noted.
He also highlighted that the recent inspection conducted was not only to facilitate the building of the bridge, but also for the building of roads that will be connected to the bridge.
Public Works Ministry’s Chief Transport Planning Officer Patrick Thompson, during a recent tour of the site of the project, had announced that a “handful” of houses would have to be removed to facilitate the construction of the bridge and connecting roadways.
The construction of the bridge is slated to start in the fourth quarter of 2021. The project is expected to be finished within two years.
The bridge will land aback Nandy Park, EBD and at La Grange, West Bank Demerara (WBD).
Only recently, Cabinet granted its no-objection for China State Construction Engineering to construct the bridge at a proposed cost of US$256.6 million.
The new bridge will offer easy connectivity to both the existing East Bank Demerara road as well as the new Diamond-to-Ogle bypass on the eastern side of the river and to the existing West Bank Demerara road and the new Parika-to-Schoonord road on the western side of the river.
The new bridge will also offer critical connectivity to the new Wales Development Authority, which will be a major centre of productive activity when it comes on stream.