— project to open lands for housing, other economic activities

CONSTRUCTION work on the first phase of the Ogle, East Coast Demerara (ECD) to Diamond, East Bank Demerara (EBD) bypass road is moving smoothly and President, Dr. Irfaan Ali has affirmed that it will be completed by the end of April, 2021.
This aspect of the revolutionary project, which costs a little more than $500 million, stretches from Eccles to Diamond.
“As promised, by the end of April, an alternate link between Diamond and Eccles. Your government is at work for you,” President Ali said in a post on his Facebook page, on Thursday.
Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, told the Guyana Chronicle that the four-kilometre road, which is being developed on new, virgin soil, is 65 per cent complete.
Croal said the ongoing work includes the construction of two heavy-duty culverts and two heavy-duty reinforced concrete bridges, and the installation of street lights along the road.
This first phase of the project is being executed by the Ministry of Housing and Water through the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA).
“It was designed by the experienced staff of CH&PA… so, completion of work is on schedule,” Minister Croal said.
While leaving the official announcement of the macro impact of this project for President Ali, Croal said briefly that the road will undoubtedly create new lands for housing and other economic activities.

It was reported in August 2020 that the government had retailored the Ogle to Diamond bypass road project to conform to the loan available to execute the major works.
Speaking with the Department of Public Information, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, had said that the new, four-lane project will extend from Ogle to Haags Bosch, rather than to Diamond. This move will save taxpayers approximately US$158 million.
“What was driving up that [project] cost was a number of connectors on the road,” Minister Indar cited.
Identifying the previously proposed connection at Mocha as a difficult area to execute works, the minister said the swamped terrain contributed to an astronomical increase in the total project cost.

“For you to do those swamps, the cost of the earth works pushed up the cost to $208 million. Remember, the Indian Government only had $50 million allocated to this project. So, we had to redesign the project to bring it to the original design,” Minister Indar explained, adding that India has accepted the new design for the road works.
High Commissioner of India to Guyana, Dr K. J. Srinivasa was reported as saying that the redesigned project documents have already been submitted and are currently being deliberated on by the Government of India.
“Since the original specifications of the road have changed, we had to go back to our headquarters for some additional clearances, which we are now at the end of that particular process,” Dr. Srinivasa said, adding that he believes that approvals to the changes are likely to come within the first quarter of this year.

Before the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) demitted office in May 2015, former President Donald Ramotar had conducted an official visit to India, where he received the commitment of a US$50 million loan from the Indian Exim Bank to fund the proposed bypass road.
When the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) took office the same year, the designs of the project were altered, drastically increasing the cost of the project to some US$208 million.
The loan agreement, secured by the Ramotar administration, was signed in 2017 by the then APNU+AFC Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan.
With the recent modifications, the construction of the 20-kilometre road will be covered entirely by the US$50 million loan.