New Demerara River Crossing 33% complete

Currently faced with no delays, works on the new Demerara River Crossing is moving apace and is 33 per cent complete.

President Dr Irfaan Ali visited the site where the new bridge is being constructed on Thursday to inspect ongoing works.

There, he was provided with an update by the engineer and contractor on how work is progressing.

President Ali was informed that a temporary structure that is being built to help the contractor transport the materials onto the river to construct the new crossing is 100 per cent complete.

Drilling and piling for the new bridge commenced on January 6 and is expected to be completed within the next two and a half months.

“This is critical work in the river…The contractor wants to proceed as soon as possible to finalize this critical work…We now start driving for the steel casing and January 6, they want to start drilling of pile,” the project consultant said.

While this is ongoing, the Head of State was told that other sections of the bridge are being pre-fabricated.

“We are going through the tedious phase of the project. There are absolutely no shortcuts that could be done. Installing the cage, drilling the piles and so there will come a stage where all of the sub-surface works would have been completed and we will start to rapid works above ground…That will be sometime between March and April 2024,” Project Engineer of the Ministry of Public Works, Patrick Thompson explained.

The new bridge is being built by the China Railway Construction Corporation Limited. Currently, 378 persons are working on the site.

Works are being executed on a 24-hour basis to ensure that the December 31, 2024 deadline is met.

In May 2022, the government signed a contract to construct a new crossing over the Demerara River to the tune of US$260 million.

The hybrid-designed bridge will feature a modern four-lane structure, cycle lane, with a 2.65 kilometers length, driving surface of about 23.6 meters and will have a lifespan of some 100 years.