THE opening of tender documents, another step leading up to the awarding of a contract to extend the existing four-lane highway on the East Bank of Demerara, will now take place next Tuesday.
Yesterday was initially set as the deadline for the submission of the bids to be followed by the opening of the documents.
But Transport and Planning Officer in the Ministry of Works, Rabindranauth Chandarpaul, when contacted on Monday, advised that the opening has now been postponed to next Tuesday.
The US$22M project is divided into three lots.
Lot 1 begins at New Providence and ends at Prospect Village, in the vicinity of the Guyana Water Inc. installation; lot 2 from Prospect to Diamond, near the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) plant; and lot 3 from DDL to the Diamond/Grove intersection.
Financing for the project is through a US$20M loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), with the remaining US$2M coming from the Government of Guyana.
Following the opening of the tender documents, a three to four-week period would be set aside for the evaluation process, and provision will also be made for the receipt of “no objections” from the Tender Board, Cabinet and the IDB.
Once the green light is given on the selection of the contractor/contractors, a tripartite negotiation between the Government of Guyana, the client and the contractor will be held to allow discussions on the content of the contract, as well as for the contractor to ask questions and seek clarifications before concretising the deal.
Cognisant that the roadway where the project will be undertaken is the main and only thoroughfare from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, as well as housing development, efforts are being made to minimize, as much as possible, delays in the movement of traffic and people.
To this end, a four-lane stakeholder committee comprising representatives of owners of roadside businesses, agencies, residents, and the minibus association was established.
The plan is to have the committee convene regular statutory meetings involving representatives of the contractors, project supervisors and IDB representatives, once the project gets off the ground, so that issues arising such as modifications, or identified mistakes could be ventilated and addressed in the fastest possible time.
The highway extension works will include the construction of bridges and culverts, vehicle parking, bicycle lanes, pedestrian crossings, and bus stops, in an effort to increase safety and significantly reduce disruption of the traffic flow.
The current four-lane thoroughfare stretches from Ruimveldt in Georgetown and ends at New Providence.
A bridge on Saffon Street, in the vicinity of the La Penitence Market, was recently extended in order to facilitate a proposed extension of the roadway in that vicinity.