The Governments of Guyana and Suriname on Wednesday were presented with the design of the Corentyne River Bridge wherein the consultant, WSP Caribbean, proposed a two-lane and two-section bridge that is connected by an island between the two countries.
Trinidad-based WSP Caribbean unveiled the design of the bridge during a detailed presentation to Public Works Minister Juan Edghill and his Surinamese counterpart, Dr Riad Nurmohanmed, at the second high-level decision makers meeting held in Georgetown.
The WSP Caribbean’s design proposed the Corentyne River Bridge as a two-section structure that is connected via Long Island to link Guyana and Suriname. The design also features a two-lane bridge with accommodation for a third lane in case of an emergency.
It was noted that this presentation by the WSP technical team was made ahead of the final report, which will detail other aspects of their study such as cost of the bridge, traffic projections, design of the road, financial and economic evaluation and environmental assessment, among other key elements.
In brief remarks, Minister Edghill lauded the work of the consultant and their accommodation of special requests from the two governments.
According to Edghill, that information would help the five pre-qualified bidders to prepare and submit their proposals by the July month-end deadline.
The bids will be opened on August 1, 2023 and will undergo two rounds of evaluation – first, individually by each country, and then jointly by the two nations to decide on the most competitive bidder.
The US$2M contract signed with WSP Caribbean for several preliminary studies and research to be conducted on the Corentyne bridge, was funded by the Surinamese government.
The high-span Corentyne River Bridge will be built according to the Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain model and will run approximately 3.1 kilometres, connecting Moleson Creek in Guyana to South Drain in Suriname with a landing on Long Island in the Corentyne River, where a commercial hub and tourist destination will be established.
