AS part of continued efforts to reduce the buildup of traffic along the West Bank and West Coast of Demerara corridor, the Ministry of Housing and Water has moved ahead to request bids for the construction of a four-lane highway from Schoonord, West Bank Demerara, to Crane, West Coast of Demerara.

President Dr. Irfaan Ali had announced plans for the new highway in late April 2022, noting that the increased traffic along that corridor has necessitated the construction of a channel for traffic flow.

“…because of the speed of development in the region [Region Three], we have to go with a stop-gap and build an alternative four-lane highway from Crane to Schoonord because that is where there is a huge traffic back-up,” President Ali said.

According to the bid document which was published in the Guyana Chronicle, the works on the four-lane highway will be divided into eight lots, with construction expected to last for 16 months per lot.
Contractors who wish to bid for any or all of the lots, have, until July 13, 2022, to make their submissions.

Following a Cabinet inspection which was led by the Head of State, it was determined that the alignment for the new highway is about three miles long.
Owing to the rapid pace of development, this highway will precede the planned construction of a four-lane highway from Schoonord to Parika on the East Bank of Essequibo (EBE).

This potential road link, President Ali had said, will open thousands of acres of land for housing, agriculture and agro-related projects, tourism, and other related activities.
The construction of this particular road, however, is merely a component of a broader plan to modernise the country’s infrastructure and create myriad alternative and more convenient linkages.

At the centre of those plans is the intended construction of a new ‘fly-over’ Demerara Harbour Bridge, which will stretch from Nandy Park on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) to La Grange, WBD.
The new four-lane, high-span bridge, once completed, will replace the existing structure which was built in 1976, over four decades ago.

On a larger scale, in continuing its drive to transform the country’s infrastructure, the government has allocated the largest portion of its milestone $552.9 billion Budget 2022 to the Ministry of Public Works. A total of $96.1 billion has been allocated to the ministry, which is responsible for the country’s infrastructure.

Some $76.7 billion for roads and bridges under the Ministry of Public Works is in the 2022 budget.
Another component of public infrastructure is the construction of houses and the accompanying facilities to make the environment conducive to living. To this end, the government has allocated $12.4 billion for further development of the housing sector.

“With the construction boom underway, particularly pertaining to the rapid expansion in housing and road projects, the development and expansion of the other mining and quarrying subsector is crucial,” Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, had said.

This expansion, he related, has the potential of lowering construction costs since the abundance of local, readily available resources could ease the impact of imported inflationary pressure on the cost of key construction materials.

In an area related to construction and manufacturing, there is expected to be significant growth by the end of this year.