Dear Editor:
REFERENCE is made to a letter published in the Sunday, September 30, 2018 edition of Kaieteur News, under the headline, “The Infrastructure Ministry has missed the point on the East Coast road”.

The ministry wishes to respond to the claims put forward by the concerned professional.
On the matters of the East Coast Road Project, the ministry wishes to assure the general public that we are working assiduously to deal with the delay of traffic and the environmental issues highlighted in the letter.

The East Coast Road Widening and Improvement Project is being executed by China Railway First Group Company Limited for a cost of fifty million, one hundred and ninety-five thousand, nine hundred and forty-one United States dollars (US$50,195,941.34). The physical works on the project commenced on August 29, 2017, and the project is expected to be completed in September 2019 and thereafter the Defects Liability Period will last for one year.

The scope of works for the project includes the widening of the existing roadway between Better Hope to Annandale into four lanes and thereafter an upgrade of the existing two-lane road. Seven bridges and 12 culverts will be widened in the four-lane section and two bridges will be reconstructed. The project will also involve the installation of sidewalks, street lights, traffic signals, road safety signs and markings. The finished surface of the roadway will comprise four inches of asphaltic concrete.

It should be noted that a contract for supervision services was awarded to an International Consultancy Firm– Sheladia Associates Inc.– in association with E&A Consultants for a cost of two million, three hundred and ten thousand, eight hundred and ninety-nine United States dollars (US$2,310,899). This consultant is the client’s representative and is responsible for the supervision of all works on site to ensure that there is compliance with quality standards, traffic management plan, environmental management plan and also to ensure that the project is completed on time and within the budget. It is therefore misleading to inform the general public that this project is indeed a major indictment and requires a stalwart effort by the regulatory agencies to enforce the applicable regulations”, when on a daily basis an average of twenty specialised technicians are on site to observe and monitor the works of the project. The technicians ensure that all quality standards, safety measures and environmental regulations are adhered to.

The project is scheduled to be completed in September 2019, and the present progress of works is 35 per cent. The ministry is anticipating that all works for the four-lane section will be substantially completed by December 2018.

The ministry and consultants have engaged the contractor for the Traffic Management and Environmental Management Plan to be adhered to, and as a consequence, a safety and environment audit was done a few days ago where the pressing issues affecting the residents and commuters were logged and the contractor instructed to remedy them within a week. Moreover, as it relates to the dust, the issue has been remedied by the implementation of three water trucks wetting the road seven times per day.

Further, approximately 125 directional signs and reflectors will be installed before Sunday, 7 October, 2018.

In addition, one of the interventions which have been implemented is for more trained flagmen to be used to regulate the flow of traffic while materials are being offloaded on site. Thus, trucks will not offload materials during the peak period in the mornings and afternoons. The ministry is cognisant of the fact that commuters have to wait 15 to 20 minutes the most. The speed limit in the construction zone is 20 km per hour, which should be understandable, since major road works are being done. Therefore, in order to have commuters out of the construction zone as quickly as possible and to alleviate the buildup in traffic, the contractor has begun training more flagmen.

It must be noted that for the past two weeks the ministry along with the contractor have been collaborating with the Guyana Police Force to have traffic flowing rapidly, especially during peak hours. With the assistance of the police officers, there has been a major reduction in drivers cutting in and out of the lanes.

The writer is wrong in stating that we have contracted with the worst set of foreign contractors in the form of Chinese. This is distasteful and disrespectful to the Chinese Railway Construction Corporation when they are known for constructing some of the world’s largest infrastructures. For instance, as recently as August 21, 2018, China Railway Construction Corporation Limited had opened the World’s first Ultra-High-Pressure Tunnel in the Yangtze River in the city of Changshu. Also, there was the completion of the Mecca-Medina High-Speed Rail with a length of 450.25 kilometres and a design top speed of 360 kilometres per hour. It is the world’s first dual-line electrified high-speed railway crossing the desert zone in the form of a joint venture between Chinese and Saudi enterprises. With that being said, the ministry is confident that China Railway Construction Corporation has the capacity and capabilities to execute the road project within its scheduled time and simultaneously adhering to all other regulations for the safety and betterment of all Guyanese.

The concerned professional is therefore urged to do background research before making wild, fallacious arguments.

Hence, the ministry wishes to advise commuters to remain within the regulated 20km/h in the construction zone and to assure the general public that all measures are being put in place to avoid inconvenience to commuters and residents in the project area from Better Hope to Belfield.

Best Regards,
Ms. Krest Cummings
Public Relations Officer
Ministry of Public Infrastructure