Wismar to Lethem Road
SOME $300M will be spent on repairing and maintaining the road from Wismar in Linden to Lethem, Rupununi, this year.
The money is to be expended on rehabilitating bridges and culverts, improving the road surface in specific areas and clearing the shoulders to enhance sight distance along the 350 miles long  route, Engineering Coordinator of the Work Services Group in the Ministry of Public Works, Mr. Leon Goring disclosed last week. He said the increased and intensified programme is a result of the greater volume of traffic on the roadway since the opening of the Takutu River Bridge, at the border with Brazil.
Goring said traffic signs in Portuguese and English languages have already been  placed all along the way and, indicating blind corners, narrow bridges, right or left directions, speed limits and distances, for both Brazilians and Guyanese to understand for safety.
But the major part of the maintenance and upgrading works, begun last month, is the strengthening  of the weight bearing capacity of the 52 wooden bridges and 121 culverts, he said.
Goring said that the Ministry is planning to change some of the wooden bridges and culverts into concrete structures within the framework of budgetary allocations.
However, replacing the 168 feet long wooden bridge at Pirara, also in Rupununi, with a concrete one is one project definitely on stream, he assured.
That overpass is 30 feet above ground and a design for the replacement has been crafted for construction to start later this year and progress in stages, Goring said.
He said the Ministry is also increasing the laterite cover on the road between Number 58 and Omai and Section Four before 20 Miles.
Goring said the road is, generally, in good shape now.
“We counted at least 15 cars which used the road to get to Lethem for the recent rodeo. This says a lot about the current status, especially to those who know how difficult it had been to traverse prior to the intensified rehabilitation and maintenance by the Ministry,” he said.