New Asphalt Plant key to Guyana’s infrastructural development
The soon to be operationalised fully-automated asphalt plant will have the capacity to produce 160 tonnes per hour and a storage chamber that holds 40 tonnes. This is in comparison to the existing plant which only produces 30 tonnes per hour.
On Friday the Minister of Public Works, Hon. Bishop Juan Edghill and Minister within the Ministry, Hon. Deodat Indar and a team conducted a site visit of the facility.
The General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC) Mr. Rolston Adams, under whose purview the plant falls, explained that the new facility is approximately 98 percent complete.
A final component has to be installed and checked by a German technician which is making arrangements to travel to Guyana at the earliest opportunity. According to Minister Edghill, the technician will arrive via a chartered Eastern Airline flights out of New York “So that we could get the plant up and running.”
He noted that the old plant has “significant pollution issues” but its operation facilitated the purchase of a new plant
“A $488 Million investment cannot be [left] sitting, I understand that the plant was purchased from revenues generated from the old operations so it was not charged on the consolidated fund. It was because of the profitability of the existing operation they were able to invest and have a plant,” he explained.
Minister Edghill noted too that with the passage of Budget 2020 “there will be accelerated procurement and in that environment of accelerated procurement, roads and the development of communities will have to accelerate.”
He said with the improved production capacity of 160 tonnes there should be no issue with supplying the demand.
“The mandate of this facility is to ensure that all the private sector operators who are also in the business of a similar nature, must be competitive and that at all material times they must be no shortage of asphaltic concrete to help in our development agenda.” Minister Edghill noted.
In keeping with the development agenda, projects such as the Sheriff/Mandela road, the Ogle bypass road, interior and urban roads and bridges and as well as other miscellaneous roads will make the plant a very key facility.
He highlighted the importance of training for the facility’s operators and noted the importance of “rigidly kept” maintenance schedules as it is an asset that will be used for Guyana’s development.
“This is an economically viable entity and of course the management of those resources from that must be very well managed” Minister Edghill stated.
He also assured the management that a new board will be put emplace for “proper policy direction.”
Meanwhile, Minister Deodat Indar highlighted the importance of the facility in Guyana’s infrastructural development and the its role in creating business opportunities for its local suppliers.
The plant is expected to provide efficiency in the continuity of supply of materials to the Ministry in the execution of road construction and rehabilitation, without compromising quality or price. It is expected to meet all required environmental standards regarding air and noise emissions.