Laying of foundation to start this weekend

THE preparation of the foundation for the Houston pedestrian overpass will commence this weekend, City Engineer Colvern Venture disclosed on Monday.
Addressing councillors at the statutory meeting at City Hall, Venture said he was part of a team that paid on site visit to the Houston community a few days ago that included officers from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, the contracting company, and the Guyana Power and Light (GPL).

Venture said that while there, designs of the proposed overpass were submitted to him, so they will commence the work with the driving of piles. (Piles/poles are driven into the soil to provide foundation support for structures).

Mayor Patricia Chase-Green called on the constituency councillors to hold a meeting with residents in the community to properly inform them of the impending works, so that the city council would not be accused of not consulting with them.

“I’m quite sure there may be some dislocation of some people and places… and so we can have a smooth transition,” Chase-Green said.

Meanwhile, in April last, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, said a contract to the tune of US$364,727 was awarded to S Jagmohan Hardware Supplies and Construction Services for work on a pedestrian overpass at the Diamond, East Bank Demerara pedestrian crossing.

Harmon had also previously announced the award of US$1M contracts for the construction of overhead crossings at Peter’s Hall and at Eccles, also on the East Bank.

With more than 10,000 vehicles entering the country every year, traffic congestion on key arteries leading to Georgetown continues to be a major bugbear. This congestion has been contributing heavily to delays for workers at peak travel times, in the mornings, between 07:00hrs and 09:00hrs, and in the evening from 16:00hrs to 18:30hrs.

The East Bank Demerara road is among the busiest in the country, providing linkages to not only the villages along the way, but to the Demerara Harbour Bridge which leads to West Demerara, Essequibo and beyond, but to Linden and the hinterland as well.
The Cheddi Jagan International Airport, the country’s main port, is also located at Timehri.