SOME 25 contractors from the village of Buxton, East Coast Demerara, received their mobilisation advance from the Ministry of Public Works, to immediately begin rehabilitative work on 25 bridges in their community.

Last week, the contractors signed and received their contracts for specific work. A total of $56 million has been allocated for this project.

Guiding the process along on Wednesday were Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Service, Vladim Persaud; Procurement Manager at the ministry, Andy Mahadeo and personnel from the ministry’s Finance Department.

The government has allocated the largest portion of its milestone $552.9 billion 2022 Budget 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. Of that sum, some $76.7 billion is set aside for roads and bridges.

“$76.7 billion is for roads and bridges and that is the main part. We had to put infrastructure where there’s no infrastructure so that money is really to do that,” Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar had said.

In breaking down the $76.7 billion sum, he had said that $49.2 billion will be spent on roads, while the remaining $27.5 billion will go towards bridges.

Roads and bridges are a major aspect of a country’s development, not only do they ease transportation and cut costs, they integrate communities and boost people’s development, hence the government’s major focus on building the country’s road networks.

Public Works Minister, Juan Edghill, had said that the government is committed to rolling out these projects without discrimination.

“The PPP/C Administration, President Irfaan Ali, and his cabinet, we are working in every single community; the ones who have voted overwhelming for us and the ones who didn’t vote for us because we are not developing a PPP/C Guyana, we are developing a ‘One Guyana’, and in developing a One Guyana, we bring development to all the people,” Minister Edghill had said.