President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali inspected the ongoing works at two major road projects in Region Four – the Ogle to Eccles Four-lane Highway and the Diamond to Buzz Bee Dam expansion.
On Thursday, the Head of State visited the works on the bypass road that will link the East Coast Demerara corridor from Ogle to the East Bank Demerara corridor at Eccles. He expressed satisfaction at the progress of the construction, noting that these works are moving ahead of schedule.
“This is one of the two projects we have ahead of time, we hope to complete it by November,” the president said.
The four-lane road is being built from the intersection of the Ogle Airstrip Road and the Rupert Craig Highway on the East Coast of Demerara, heading towards Haags Bosch in Eccles, on the East Bank of Demerara.
In June of 2022, the government inked a $21.2 billion (US$106.4 million) contract with an Indian company – Ashoka Buildcon Limited – to begin the first phase of the highly anticipated road network.
Once completed, it is expected to expand interconnectivity between the East Coast and the East Bank of Demerara, significantly easing traffic congestion.
The 7.8-kilometre four-lane highway will be constructed with sidewalks and a median, while each lane will be built 3.6 metres wide.
The president was accompanied by the Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, the Head of the ministry’s Work Services Group (WSG), Ron Rahaman, another technical officer, and the contractors during his visit.
Meanwhile, on Friday morning, President Ali also inspected ongoing works on the Diamond to Buzz Bee Dam four-lane highway on the East Bank.
Contracts for this project were awarded in November 2023, to $11 billion. The highway, executed through the Ministry of Housing and Water, will be an asphalted concrete structure.
Divided into 12 lots, the project sees the construction of more than 30 reinforced concrete bridges, 4.6 kilometres of reinforced concrete highway pavement, and two roundabouts for improved traffic management. (Modified from DPI)
