THE Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC) has signed a contract with LievenseCSO, a Dutch company, for the feasibility study and design for the new Demerara River crossing.
During the simple signing, Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Annette Ferguson, on behalf of the Ministry and the Government of Guyana, thanked the company for its interest in the project and for the experience and knowledge it will undoubtedly bring. DHBC General Manager, Mr. Rawlston Adams, expressed similar sentiments.

In turn, Mr. Arie Mol, Advisor to the CEO of LievenseCSO, thanked DHBC for the opportunity and said that he looked forward to working with the company. He also gave the assurance that his company will ensure that all schedules are met and completed on time. The feasibility study will commence on January 15, 2017.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, had told the media recently that, Cabinet had approved the request by Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson for the feasibility study to be done. That study is to begin in January 2017. “It may be recalled that a pre-feasibility study was done by the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Infrastructure in 2013. That study had concluded that a new, high-level, fixed bridge was the best option to be pursued,” said Harmon back then.

He told reporters that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure had advertised for suitable consultants to conduct a feasibility study that would lead to construction of the bridge through a Public/Private Partnership (PPP). Minister Harmon was not in a position to state where the bridge was likely to be located, but he explained that during the feasibility study, which followed the pre-feasibility done under the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) administration, a limited area would be considered.

According to Leivense CSO’s website, the company is an engineering consultancy which specialises in the fields of infrastructure, environment, construction and pipelines. “We specialise in engineering, underground piping, environmental and environment, spatial planning and the built environment. Human activities in densely populated and/or sensitive areas bring specific infrastructural and environmental issues along with it,” the company said.

Moreover, the company has more than 200 professionals operating from seven offices in the Netherlands, offices in Saudi Arabia and in St Maarten. “In addition to our Dutch home market, we do a lot of projects from abroad, independently or in collaboration with other parties in the Netherlands and abroad. The international focus is in particular ports, water and flood protection, dredging and land reclamation and pipelines.”
The Demerara Harbour Bridge (a floating bridge) was opened on July 2, 1978 and has a length of 1851 metres (1.15 miles). The bridge has been under constant maintenance over the years.