–with commissioning of $2.3B Mandela-Eccles Four-Lane Highway
–new traffic system to be installed to maintain safety on the roadway

THE much-needed $2.3 billion Mandela to Eccles Four-Lane Highway was commissioned on Thursday, paving the way for massive development and significantly reducing the time it takes to traverse the East Bank Demerara (EBD) corridor.
This critical piece of infrastructure which was commissioned by President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, who conceptualised the project, is part of the government’s overarching objective to improve the lives of every Guyanese.
“The time you take to use the roadways to get to work, the time you save will become a value to you. You go home an hour earlier or 30 minutes earlier, that’s 30 minutes more with your children or your family… that is the type of value that is considered intangible, but those are the tangible values that are most valuable,” President Ali said.
Work on the $2.3 billion concrete, four-lane highway from Mandela Avenue commenced on April 14, 2021.
President Ali said that this investment, which is in keeping with the government’s vision of transforming Guyana’s infrastructural landscape, will not just ease the traffic congestion on the EBD corridor, but it will also serve to transform the landscape of Guyana as the country continues on its trajectory of development.
“We celebrate Guyana with this highway, we celebrate the soaring heights with Guyana, we celebrate the strength of our collective effort and we celebrate the same wingspan that covers us all in glory. We celebrate the strength of the cause that would lift us up from the lowest point in the ground and take us up in the air to the highest point,” President Ali said.

RESPONSIBLE USE
Although the primary purpose of this roadway is to decrease traffic congestion and reduce the time of travel, the Head of State cautioned persons to be responsible when traversing the EBD corridor.
Within the next three weeks, security systems are expected to come online that will allow for proper road use of the new highway.
Dr. Ali said the systems will include an automatic speedometer which will track the information of persons using the road in an unsafe manner.
“This feature would track vehicle speed, it would display your speed, it would record your speed and it would then transmit your speed electronically to the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Revenue Authority. It would identify your number plate, it would identify clearly even in a dark night with rainfall, the image of the driver and the front-seat passenger,” President Ali said.
He said that a demerit system for drivers will be activated so that persons who continuously abuse the roads would lose their licence.

LANDS OPENED
This initiative will not only go a far way in maintaining safer roads, but it would also contribute to the preservation of this piece of infrastructure which holds a potential far greater than the facilitation of traffic.
Speaking about the spinoff benefits of this highway, Minister of Housing and Water, Colin Croal, said that it has unlocked massive lands for development; this means that major housing developments are expected to continue across the EBD.
The Housing Minster said that since being elected to office, the government has expended some $6.8 billion for infrastructural works on the EBD corridor alone, in areas such as Providence, Prospect, Little Diamond, and Great Diamond, with the new highway complementing those works.

“2022 will see even more investments in the housing sector. Our government has committed more than $27.5 billion for infrastructure works on the EBD corridor that will include Great Diamond, Golden Grove, Little Diamond, and new openings for commercial lands on the east bank. And this also includes the continuation of the construction of the four-lane highway from Eccles to Great Diamond, which is already in progress,” the Housing Minister said.
Since assuming office in 2020, the government has already allocated some 11,000 house lots.