– in bid to make travel from Better Hope to Belfield more user-friendly

By Naomi Parris

AFTER years in the making and a multitude of challenges along the way, the Better Hope to Belfield leg of the multibillion-dollar East Coast Demerara road-widening and improvement project on Thursday during a simple, yet significant ceremony at the Montrose Bridge, one of seven bridges reconstructed during the course of the project.

Delivering the feature address at the commissioning ceremony, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo spoke at length of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) + Alliance for Change (AFC) government’s untiring commitment to improving the lives for the people of Guyana, saying that the widening and improvement project is a prime example of that commitment.
In light of the many challenges which dogged the project at hand, Minister Nagamootoo felt compelled to commend the contractors for their timely delivery and a job well done given the circumstances.

BACKGROUNDER
Giving a background of the project, which commenced in August 2017, Minister Nagamootoo recalled that one of the many challenges with which the government was faced was having to relocate those vendors who occupied the tarmacs at the Mon Repos and Lusignan Markets to accommodate the expansion and improvement of the roadway, as well as their concerns as to where they would be relocated to and how they would provide for their families during and after the completion of the project.

Needless to say, he said, having to address the foregoing issues did create a slight delay in the project, but following several discussions and meetings with the vendors, the government was able to reach an amicable agreement with them so as the project could be completed and at the same time provide a safe and clean environment for the vendors to continue to ply their trade.

As the prime minister recalled, aside from the relocation of the vendors, the contractors were also faced with the issue of traffic congestion along the roadways during working hours, but thankfully, commuters opted to use the railway embankment which is accessible from Enmore to Georgetown. Contractors also worked at nights to avoid traffic congestion in the early mornings and late afternoons during rush hour.

In the last half of the completion of the project, the government also had to deal with several complaints of excessive dust from the brick roads, but, as Minister Nagamootoo stated, “For every gain, one writer said, there must be pain. That was a small price to pay for the progress; the achievement that we have seen now.”

THE DRIVING FORCES

The Prime Minister, in commending the China Railway First Group Limited for the completion of the project, also commended Minister of Finance Winston Jordan; Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, and Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Jaipaul Sharma and Chief Works Officer, Mr. Jeffery Vaughn for the pivotal role they played along the way.

“I’d like to take this opportunity in public… When I’m in Cabinet, I’m not known to be generous with compliments, but I want to today identify Minister of Finance, Winston De Costa Jordan as the driving force behind the public investment programme,” he said, adding: “We spent money to take care of the needs of our people… You could see the transformation; not only change… You see the transformation in every single part of Guyana, in every single community.”