MINISTER within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, has indicated that the Sherriff/Mandela Road Expansion Project is 67% complete and is on target for a 2021 completion. This disclosure was made during a work inspection exercise on Tuesday.
The Sheriff/Mandela project suffered a suspension after the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) halted funding in November 2019. This particular hiccup was a result of health and safety violations committed by the contractor, Sinohydro Corporation.
Following the protracted March 2020 General and Regional Elections, the IDB was re-engaged by the new Irfaan Ali-led government, regarding several concerns, especially those pertaining to the environment. Once completed, improved road safety infrastructure, better-coordinated traffic movements, and adequate drainage along the road corridor and its surrounding communities, are expected.

During the inspection exercise, Minister Indar also hosted consultation sessions with representatives from the companies that operate along the Back Road section of Mandela. Issues regarding the completion of the project were raised. Banks DIH Limited, Edward B Beharry & Co Ltd, Citizens Bank, and Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), were some of the companies consulted.
One of the major issues raised was that several sections of the drain that line the front of these businesses remained in an earthen state much unlike the concrete drains that are slated to be constructed under the expansion project. Minister Indar highlighted that having earthen drains could have a negative impact on the road after construction. “The complaint at some of the businesses is that some sections will have an earthen drain and it can have an impact on the shoulder of the road since it’s a highway that we are building, so having an earthen drain poses a sort of an issue but we are cognizant of that.

Additionally, we are doing infrastructural work to develop the country and if you’re having everywhere else with concrete and then you have a 400 metre stretch of an earthen drain it does look a little off,” said Minister Indar.
Further, he disclosed that the contractors were not clear on if they had permission to make one of the sections of the earthen drains concrete, but have since received clarity. He stated that Beharry and Citizens Bank shared similar concerns regarding how their trucks would work following the completion of the project.
“At Beharry they have an issue with how their trucks are going to turn to traffic because they have trucks coming in and going out. They have a manufacturing facility there so we had to go and address that; we had to get back to them about that. We haven’t made any decision yet on that and we have to go back to the drawing board. It involves cost so we have to look at that,” the minister added.