East Coast road expansion 93% complete
─ approval granted for works to extend from Belfield to Mahaica
DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Expansion works on the East Coast of Demerara carriageway is 93 per cent complete. Minister of Public Infrastructure, Hon. David Patterson made this disclosure today during a press conference on the ministry’s 2019 performance.
Minister Patterson said that Government has received approval from the Exim Bank of India for the loan to be extended. This move will facilitate the further expansion of the roadway from Belfield, where the expansion would have ended, to Mahaica.
It is anticipated that at the end of this project, expansion works on the thoroughfare will extend from Mahaica to Rosignol, Berbice under another project. Funding has already been secured for the designs for the latter phase of works.
During the last quarter of 2019, works on the four-lane portion of the thoroughfare stood at 95 per cent complete. This comprises the total reconstruction of the existing two lanes of carriageway and widening of these two lanes with new construction on both the northern and southern sides.
At the time, asphalt concrete paving was done for a length of about 7. 4 km on the northern side and 7.4 km on the southern side.
Construction of concrete drains was also done for the entire 7.4 km on both sides, with covers installed where necessary, while several revetments totaling about 473 metres have been completed.
Also finished are kerbs for the entire section, for both shoulder and median. The expansion project also has a two-lane section. In this zone, two of the existing bridges are to be dismantled and new construction to be done. More than half of the existing bridge has been dismantled, and 15 piles driven on the southern side.
With respect to roadworks, the widening of the shoulders has commenced on both the right-hand side and the left-hand side. In the last 2019 assessment an estimated 6.5 km length of roadway was widened.
Construction of concrete drains is also progressing with about 775 metres of drain walls constructed on both sides of the roadway with about 100 metres of drains outstanding.
In 2016, the Government of Guyana and the People’s Republic of China signed a $9.6Billion (US$45.5Million) concessional loan for the completion of the widening of the road between Better Hope and Belfield. The Government has contributed approximately $3Billion towards the project.