-24-hour work schedule activated; surface work set to commence in March/April 2024

CONSTRUCTION work on the new Demerara Harbour Bridge is moving apace and according to the latest report from the engineer, 33 per cent has been completed.

This is according to Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, who accompanied President, Dr Irfaan Ali on a visit to the construction site on Thursday afternoon.

Indar indicated that the temporary bridge which will be used as part of the construction of the main structure is 100 per cent complete and as such, the contractors are already pouring the main substructure concrete piling and are working on a 24-hour basis.

“We have about 378 persons on this site at the bridge, so we are working around the clock to try to ensure that we meet the deadline to finish this bridge,” he said.

Further to this, Indar noted that the government is thus far pleased with the speed of the construction and is also happy with the work being done by the supervisory consulting firm.

Based on reports from the Ministry of Public Works’ engineers on the ground, Indar noted that there are not currently any impediments to the ongoing work, noting that before there were some issues with shipping items from China to complete the temporary bridge that was needed to start the actual construction.
“So that delay is now built into the overall project timeline… we have to catch up some of that lost time and that was explained to His Excellency today and I think, all in all, the project is moving apace and we want to see this kind of speed in the construction continued because they are working 24 hours, seven days a week,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Transport Officer with the Ministry of Public Works, Patrick Thompson, stated that the project is currently going through a tedious phase.

He indicated that there are no shortcuts that can be taken concerning installing the cage and drilling the piles.

Added to this, Thompson indicated that there will come a stage when all of the subsurface works will be completed and thereafter, the public will start to see rapid work above ground.

“We are looking forward to that, that would be sometime like March or April of 2024,” he said.

The construction of the new Demerara Harbour Bridge is being undertaken by the China Railway Construction International Limited, while the project is being supervised by an Italian firm, Politecnica.

The US$260 million contract for the construction of the bridge was signed in May 2022 and was hailed as the largest public infrastructural project undertaken in Guyana.

The new bridge is expected to be some 2.65 kilometres with the width of the driving surface being around 23.6 metres with two carriageways and four lanes.

It is expected to be a hybrid design with the high span or navigation span having a cable-stay design. The vertical height of the fixed bridge is expected to be constructed at some 50 metres from the mean highest watermark.

The bridge has been designed with a lifespan of 100 years and will also have cycling lanes among other features.