AS work on the new Demerara Harbour Bridge accelerates, the government is intensifying its consultation efforts to acquire approximately 40 private properties that are in close proximity to the bridge.
Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, recently provided crucial insights into this process during his weekly programme, ‘Issues in the News.’

Nandlall revealed that the Ministry of Housing and Ministry of Public Works initiated this process some time ago. However, due to its protracted nature, the Ministry of Legal Affairs has joined the initiative with the aim of speeding this up.
He highlighted the government’s longstanding procedure for handling such property acquisitions, emphasising its commitment to a consultative and market-driven approach.

This approach seeks to ensure that the property owners are fairly compensated for their land in adherence to market values.
“Our government has a clear and settled procedure by which it approaches this type of situation. We have done it many times before. We did it when we were doing the Berbice River Bridge. We did it when we were doing the Hope Canal. We did it when we were doing well when in relation to the gas-to-energy project, and we are now doing it in relation to the Demerara Harbour Bridge,” Nandlall said.

The minister clarified that their process includes consultation with property owners, striving to achieve consensus on property values and compensation.
As such, Nandlall said that the government offers various compensation options, such as monetary compensation or a house with land, and adjusting values accordingly.

Against this backdrop, the Attorney-General said that the government’s objective is to make the process as non-antagonistic as possible and ensure that private property owners are content with the compensation received for the acquisition of their properties, which will be used for construction of the bridge.
Acknowledging the inconvenience and impact on private property owners due to the lengthy process and ongoing construction work in the area, Nandlall expressed gratitude to them for their patience and support.

He acknowledged the challenges they are facing and expressed the government’s commitment to expediting the process.
He recounted his recent meeting with Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, the Chief Executive Officer of the Central Housing and Planning Authority, Sherwyn Greaves, and other officials who had engaged the affected property owners.
Nandlall has assured the property owners that the government will retain lawyers to negotiate with each property owner, but they were also free to retain their lawyers of choice.

“The response has been very good. In fact, from all indications, there is no one who is opposed to moving and who is opposed to the process. It is simply a question of arriving at the appropriate value of the compensation to be paid. I want to thank the private property owners for their support and to thank them for their patience.

“I know that they are enduring a lot because the process has been a long one and the contractors are working in the locality, and they are suffering inconvenience. That is why we are hoping that we can control this process with every convenient speed and bring this important aspect of the project to an end,” he said.

This project is expected to be completed within 24 months, with the major works scheduled for completion on December 31, 2024.
The new bridge is expected to be some 2.65 kilometres long with two carriageways and four lanes. It is a hybrid design with a high span having a cable-stay design, even as the vertical height of the bridge is to be constructed at 50 metres from the mean highest watermark.

This new bridge is said to have a design lifespan of 100 years and will take the place of the existing bridge, which has been in operation for more than 40 years. This period of time is more than its projected lifespan.