– with the installation of road lights
Commuters using the stretch of roadway from Canal Number One to the Demerara Harbour Bridge on the West Bank of Demerara enjoyed a brighter Festive season, when 68 recently installed road lights were put into operation. The installation of the lights to the tune of $10.5M is all part of an ongoing exercise by the Ministry of Public Works and Communications to improve the standard of the country’s roadways and maintain the safety of road users.

And, in a similar exercise to illuminate populated areas from Vreed-en-Hoop on the West Bank of Demerara (WCD) to Parika on the East Bank of Essequibo (EBE), 358 street lights are being installed.

In an update on the project yesterday, Mr. Nigel Erskine, Traffic Safety Engineer in the Works Ministry, reported that all 358 wallaba poles on which the lights would be mounted and which are planted 50 metres apart, have already been put up.

The executing contractor, Cummings Electrical Company Limited, has installed 105 of the 358 lights, complete with arms, luminaries and triplex cable.

The 105 lights of 250 watts each and which are ready to be put into operation, include 44 which are placed between New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop, and Crane Village.

Another 110 of the road lights will be between Hague Village and Stewartville, and 84 between Uitvlugt and De Kindren, all villages on the West Coast of Demerara; and the remaining 120 between the villages of Zeelugt and Good Hope on the East Bank of Essequibo.

The less populated areas along the highway will benefit from illuminative road markings using a thermoplastic tape with a high degree of reflectivity and which can be easily seen in the dark.

The project has an April completion deadline; but according to Erskine, with the pace at which the project is progressing, there is the likelihood it would be finished way ahead of schedule.

The six-month contract for the works, valued at $58,887,245, was signed on October 30th last, and is being executed under the Road Safety Component of the Transport Infrastructure Rehabilitation Programme, with funding provided by the Government of Guyana and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Erskine, meanwhile, is urging road users, both motorists and pedestrians, to “play their part and exercise extreme caution” on the country’s roadways.

Recalling that over two weekends in November, 11 lives were lost due to accidents on the roadway, and that the country’s road fatality statistics for 2009 were no better than those of 2008, Erskine suggested that for the New Year, all Guyanese resolve to play their part in the observance of the five Cs of Road: Safety- Care, Courtesy, Caution, Commonsense and Consideration.