–as work advances for Buzz Bee Dam, Land of Canaan to Soesdyke interconnecting highways, President Ali

WORKS are advancing rapidly as engineers and contractors are working 24/7 to complete the ground works for the interconnecting highway from Buzz Bee Dam to Land of Canaan, according to President, Dr. Irfaan Ali.

The Head of State, during a site visit to a section of the project, noted that once completed, the road would be further expanded to Soesdyke, and with the other major highways that have already been commissioned, there will be some 16 new lanes of road.

“This interconnecting road will be going all the way back to the Ogle Highway, into Aubrey Barker [road] into Eccles, Eccles Landfill then into Ogle and then into Enmore. So, you will have 16 lanes, eventually connecting from Buzz Bee Dam to Ogle,” the President explained.

A drainage canal in the area will be redirected and interconnected around a roundabout that will be built to avoid the loss of drainage capacity.

In fact, according to the President, the advanced engineering and design will increase drainage capacity on both sides of the new road.

“The Ministry of Housing has been doing amazing work in terms of getting these projects…all Greenfield projects expedited so that we can have the housing development, industrial development and expansion. Today, we are at next phase of work, we are hoping before the end of the year we will have the entire design completed from Land of Canaan to Soesdyke,” Dr. Ali.

At Soesdyke, the Government is expected to adopt innovative engineering to construct the road there. To this end, the Government will be examining a similar design to build overpasses that replicate those that are often seen over everglades in foreign countries.

“That section there would have a bit more engineering challenges in the sense that you have to pass through old sandpits and swamp areas that are going to have some innovative design ideas that we’re already looking at that might be more cost-effective at this point.”

“That is one of the options we are looking at in terms of a cost efficiency, implementation efficiency perspective,” the President added.

The President noted that contractors will take advantage of the good weather conditions to complete critical works.

“We are hoping that with the weather continuing to be good for construction by March next year, we should be well advanced, in the sense that all the work that is dependent on weather which is the drainage work and excavation work will be completed, so that we will have continuous flow of work,” the President said.

Meanwhile, he noted that the Aubrey Barker Road link will be completed soon connecting all the way to the new Ogle Highway and later to Enmore, further up the East Coast of Demerara. Notably, over 56.5 km of major roadways are completed or being completed.