The $11.8 billion four-lane highway from Schoonord, West Bank Demerara to Crane, West Coast Demerara is expected to be completed by June 2024, President Dr Irfaan Ali revealed on Thursday.
Works have commenced on the new highway that is expected to significantly reduce traffic congestion on the West side. President Ali and a team of ministers visited the highway site to inspect the ongoing works on Thursday.
“There is already sand filling on one section of the road, this road goes all the way to Schoonord that is where the new Demerara Bridge will be, a massive roundabout with connectors lane will be attached to the existing highway that will bring traffic onto this highway and circulate traffic down the old highway going back to Vreed-en-Hoop, the West Bank and Demerara Bridge,” President Ali explained.
He described the new highway as a transformative and modern one that is “urgently required for commuters.”
“This will bring tremendous ease, we are hoping by June next year that this new four-lane highway will be completed,” the Head of State said.
He related that contractors are working aggressively during the night to complete the project.
“By December of this year, we are hoping to be in a position where all the preliminary works, the sand filling, and all the structures would have been completed.”
However, getting sand across the Harbour Bridge is proving to be a big challenge because of the weight limits.
The new highway complements ongoing infrastructural works within the region especially the development of new housing areas.
“Region Three is one of the regions in which we are having a great population push because of the housing development, the type of industrial and connection development [and] because of the oil and gas sector also taking effect in this region,” the President said.
The Head of State expressed gratitude to the proprietors whose land will be utilized to construct the new highway and said “we were able to have good comprising solutions in moving this project forward.
The project will see the construction of 4.1 kilometres of a dual carriageway reinforced concrete road with an emergency lane as well as 2.4 kilometres of road rehabilitation, and upgrade.
It will also feature two roundabouts, 11 reinforced concrete box culverts, 36 pre-stressed bridges, and road signage and markings.
The $11.8 billion contract for the highway was awarded to eight contractors – VR Construction Inc, Avinash Contracting & Scrap Metal Inc, L-Heureuse Construction and Services Inc, Guyamerica Construction Inc, AJM Enterprise, Vals Construction, Puran Bros Disposal Inc, and JS Guyana Inc.
