CONSTRUCTION of the Schoonord-Crane four-lane highway is progressing rapidly despite various challenges being experienced along the way, one contractor has said.

Project manager attached to L’Heureuse Construction & Services Inc., Stephon Cheong, said lot three of the 15-month project entails the construction of a six-lane reinforced concrete pavement with two driving lanes and one parking lane.

The company is also responsible for the construction of three additional structures, the roundabout, road signage, and markings as well as two bridges connecting to the other lots where other companies were awarded contracts.

Cheong told the Guyana Chronicle that the company is a little behind schedule because of a material shortage, but they are trying to get back on track by adding more resources.

They are doing additional work at night but materials such as sand and aggregate are still hard to source.

“Sand is a big issue in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), so, that is one of the factors and throughout the whole country… material get problem,” Cheong said.

The company began work on September 26, 2022, and is expected to meet its December 26, 2023 deadline despite the challenges.

Contracts valuing $11.8 billion were awarded in September 2022, to several contractors by the Ministry of Housing and Water for the construction of a four-lane highway from Schoonord to Crane.

The contractors are VR Construction Inc., Avinash Contracting & Scrap Metal Inc., L’Heureuse Construction and Services Inc., GuyAmerica Construction Inc., AJM Enterprise, Vals Construction, Puran Bros Disposal Inc., and JS Guyana Inc.

The project will see the construction of 4.1 kilometers (km) of a dual carriageway reinforced concrete road with an emergency lane as well as 2.4 km of road rehabilitation and upgrade.

It will also feature two roundabouts, 11 reinforced concrete box culverts, 36 pre-stressed bridges, and road signage and markings.

A new roundabout will connect the West Coast Demerara Highway to the new Schoonord to Crane highway.

To ease traffic congestion along the West Bank and West Coast of Demerara and with the speed of development in Region Three, President Dr. Irfaan Ali, in 2022, acknowledged the necessity of a new four-lane highway.

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 said, will open thousands of acres of land for housing, massive agriculture and agro-related projects, and 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.