Public Works PS tells PAC

THE modus operandi for constructing community roads in Guyana has been updated since 2019, leading to increased road strength.
This is according to Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Public Works, Vladim Persaud who made this revelation to the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee as they examined the Auditor General’s report for 2019 for the then Ministry of Public Infrastructure.

As the committee examined the report and came upon issues surrounding the construction of community roads, members of the committee inquired about the width of those roads.
It was at that point when the permanent secretary made the statement that community roads during that time differed in width from 10 to 14 feet, depending on the location.
However, he noted that since then, the Ministry has changed the modus operandi in relation to determining the width of the road. As such, all community roads are now at a minimum 12 feet in width, and in areas where there may be deterioration to the shoulders of the road because of the weight of vehicles or vehicle parking, changes have been made to make these roads stronger.

Some of these changes include the move to having these roads made with concrete and with a minimum of 3,500 to 4,500 pounds per square inch (PSI).
“So, in areas where we may not be able to go to the end of where the drainage areas are, the concrete roads tend to be resolving a lot of those issues with regards to damage of the shoulder because of how it is being designed now,” he said.

Moreover, he asserted that in expansive regions with primary access routes in localities, they employ asphaltic concrete and rigid pavement for secondary roads. This, according to his observation, has yielded much superior results compared to the previous method employed in 2019.
Furthermore, Persaud informed the committee that the ministry is presently exploring technological solutions to reinforce drains during the construction of community roads.