THE Government-owned asphalt plant based at Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara has acquired a new mobile plant which will enable staffers to provide top quality road building materials to any rural or outlying area that is accessible by road.Plant General Manager, Mr. Rawlston Adams said, “Now staffers will be able to take asphaltic concrete to Linden, to Bartica, to Region 1 (Barima/Waini), to anywhere! We can now produce asphalt and mobilise so that people in the outlying areas will be able to have better roads.”

Mr. Adams is also General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB), under the purview of which the asphalt plant falls within the Ministry of Public Works. The plant was placed under the management of the DHB on August 1, 2013. Prior to that, it was under the operations of the Transport and Harbours Department, an entity that also falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Works.

With several road projects and other infrastructural works in progress, demand for asphalt — a key road building material — has been at an all-time high.

Adams reported last week that, in 2014, the fixed plant had done exceedingly well. The entity produced a total of 48,408.88 tonnes of asphaltic concrete at a monthly average production of 4,034.07 tonnes; and this was done only on demand, since the plant could have produced much more.

He added: “We see this production increasing greatly in 2015.”

The plant had also earned a total of $1.7Bn in sales of the favoured road surface materials. This revenue, Adams pointed out, is three times the income of the DHB for the same period.

Adams said that major works in upgrading the plant in 2014 included installation of a new totalizer as well as probe sensors, which made the plant fully computerized and fully automated so that it can provide asphalt of any mix design required by any purchaser.

“A number of contracting firms also have asphalt plants, including BK International, Nauth and Son, and DipCon Engineering. We are working in an environment where we are holding our own, and, of course, we are pleased with the progress of the plant so far,” Adams said.