Govt looking to further extend 4-lane Eccles-to-Great Diamond bypass road

The Government is looking to further extend the Eccles to Great Diamond bypass road, for which contracts were signed with a number of contractors last year December, even as it works to relocate a dozen residents who fall within the project scope.

This was revealed by Housing Minister Collin Croal in an interview on Saturday. According to the Minister, those contractors who were contracted last year have already started to clear the land. However, persons in the project boundary will have to move.

“You’ll recognise we’ve already paid the mobilisation advance and that is for the extension of the four lanes from Eccles that goes to Great Diamond. We are looking for an even further extension. So, monies will be made available for the implementation of that project. And so, the contractors are all mobilised. They’ve started land clearance.”

“We have one bottleneck we’re dealing with. And that is the removal of a few persons within that boundary, by the Mocha/Herstelling area. We’ve already started to move some. We’ve engaged all of them, I’ve gone there myself. They’ve come on board. We’ve already signed the agreements for 16 of them. There are over 30 of them,” Croal said.

According to Minister Croal, the Government will be looking to advance efforts to remove those persons in the new week. When it comes to the works on the Eccles to Mandela four-lane road, which also falls under the auspices of the Ministry of Housing, Croal was optimistic of this project’s completion.

“This week it’s something we’ll be picking up the pace. Because we need for them to relocate and move. We’ve offered them a package for removal, relocation, whichever they choose. And so we need for them to respond adequately.”

“So that’s one (hiccup), but we’re moving ahead with implementing that project. So by the end of February, we want shortly to see between Mandela to Eccles, you can have a quick ingress and egress that comes through Eccles and you can also end up at Mandela,” Minister Croal said.

The contractors for the Eccles-to-Great Diamond road project following their contract signing last year. According to Minister Croal, mobilisation has already begun
Last year December, a number of contracts were signed with various contractors, some of whom are collaborating in order to build the $13.3 billion Eccles-to-Diamond road being described by the Government as a transformational initiative.

The signing took place at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, and saw 12 contractors being given contracts to build the road. The project is being administered under the Ministry of Housing, and is divided into 12 lots.

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had expressed hope in November last that the project can be completed by early 2023. The first aspect of the project, which runs from Mandela Avenue, Georgetown to Eccles, East Bank Demerara, is almost complete.

According to the bid document which was published in the newspapers, the second set of works on the four-lane highway would be divided into 12 lots, with the duration of construction expected to vary between 15 and 18 months per lot. Additionally, construction is expected to commence in the next 14 days.

Lot 1 of the project is being undertaken by Guy-America Construction Inc for $1.2 billion; Lot 2 is being undertaken by V Dalip Enterprise for $889.9 million; Lot 3 is being done by Colin Talbot Contracting Services and Eron Lall Civil Engineering Works for $1.3 billion; Lot 4 is being done by KP Thomas and Sons Contracting for $1.4 billion; Lot 5 is being done by S Jagmohan Construction and General Supplies Inc for $1.2 billion; Lot 6 is being done by H Nauth and Sons for $1.1 billion; and Lot 7 is being done by JS Guyana Inc for $1.2 billion.

Meanwhile, Lot 8 is a joint venture by VALs Construction and AJM Enterprise for $1.1 billion; Lot 9 is being done by China Railway First Group for $1 billion; Lot 10 is being done by Aronoco Services Inc for $753 million; Lot 11 is being done by Ivor Allen for $825 million, and Puran Brothers Disposal is teaming up with Khemraj Nauth Contracting Services to complete Lot 12 at a cost of $964 million.