Sheriff/Mandela road expansion concludes with lessons for future projects

The Sheriff-Mandela Road enhancement project was successfully completed, and many lessons were learned, leaving room for improvement in the execution of future projects.

“This is a project… we were in the period of COVID-19 and this is a project that would have evolved, would have had challenges.

“It was a learning lesson,” Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Works, Vladim Persaud said on Friday.

He was at the time addressing a workshop held to mark the closing of the project funded by the Inter-Development Bank (IDB).

Persaud said coming out of the experience, several facets were implemented into new projects of this nature, resulting in improvements.

“This is a seven- kilometer road that would have stretched from Sheriff Street to Mandela…it is one that the experiences that we have learned over that project, we have been able to incorporate several facets into new projects, not only in its designs but also when it comes to more stringent supervision of those projects,” Persaud explained.

He noted that with infrastructure being enhanced across the country, planning is now being done to ensure they can withstand the impacts of climate change.

“We know that these things are critical and it is even more important that we monitor our shoreline, we use new technologies…not only to monitor but also to aid in our planning process and design of new projects,” he said.

The Sheriff Street-Mandela Avenue road expansion project
Work on the Sherriff Street/Mandela Avenue Project commenced in August 2018, with the contract for the project being awarded to Sinohydro Corporation Limited in November 2017.

The IDB funded the project to the tune of US$31 million.

It includes the relocation of utilities, lane and shoulder improvements, placement of sidewalks and paved shoulders, traffic signals, traffic signs, streetlights, drainage, a pedestrian overhead walkway, culverts, bridges, and a roundabout.