More than 360 Lindeners are currently employed on the Linden to Mabura Hill Road Project, Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill stated in an invited comment Friday afternoon.
He said the number is expected to increase to about 600 in the coming months, as the contractors gear up to expedite work on the significant project.
“This is in keeping with the promise we made when we signed and launched this project,” the minister underscored, when he inspected the project’s ongoing works.
Minister Edghill met with the Brazilian contractor, Constructora Queiroz S.A, and discussed measures to expedite the progress of the road.
Advancing the construction process
The contractors were instructed to adjust their work plan to reflect a February 2025 completion date for substantial work, ahead of the contracted June 2025 mark.
This is to allow for the successful completion of the grunt work, leaving ample time to complete the final touches.
“We have just finished one year into this project, and the Government of Guyana wants to be assured that we will have this project delivered within the timeline,” Minister Edghill stressed.
He highlighted that one issue affecting the progress of the project is the methodology of preparing the subbase (a cement-stabilised base), which requires agreeable weather for completion.
“There is a proposal, and a methodology that has been examined by the supervisory consultants, which may see some changes, by way of value engineering, where we could get the same structural number and the same strength of road, but using another methodology so that even if the rain falls, we will not lose the time that we are using, and that is the use of lime and limestone,” the minister explained.
He said this procedure is awaiting the no-objection from the Caribbean Development Bank.
“The issue of time management, and putting in more teams is one that we have discussed. We are looking for substantial completion by February 2025, and when we talk about substantial completion and construction, we mean between 90 and 95 per cent completion, most of the big, civil extensive work,” the public works minister underscored.
He added that the government anticipates the completion of 10 km of road by September, and that his ministry intends to hold contractors accountable to the standard of completing a minimum of five km of road per month.
A contract was signed in December 2020 between the government, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and the United Kingdom Government to fund the US$190 million project. The road will be approximately 121 kilometres long and 7.2 metres wide.
