WORKS are progressing well on the $35 million Chateau Margot bridge, with possible completion by Saturday, December 30, 2022.

According to a Facebook post by the Ministry of Public Works, the project was undertaken by D&R Construction in early November and is a part of the Government of Guyana’s programme to replace aqua-panel bridges with pre-cast, pre-stressed concrete structures, for stronger and longer lasting infrastructure.

Earlier in December, more than $5 billion in contracts were signed by the Ministry of Public Works to help advance Guyana’s modernisation and development goals.
Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, in his remarks at the signing ceremony, had said the contracts not only represent building for now, but for the future.

“We are advancing our infrastructure and putting in what is called resilient infrastructure as it relates to our bridges. We have to take out the timber bridges that we have traditionally used and we have to be able to put in things that will last us 20, 40 years,” Minister Edghill said.

The government had allocated the largest portion of its milestone $552.9 billion 2022 Budget to the Ministry of Public Works. A total of $96.1 billion was allocated to the ministry, which is responsible for the country’s infrastructure. Of that sum, some $76.7 billion was 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.

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.