The $488 Million Eco 2000 Batch Mix Asphalt Plant is just one phase away from being completed.

THIS was disclosed to the Guyana Chronicle by General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC), Rawlston Adams. The state-of-the-art machinery at the plant will also be able to use plastic bags and bottles, as well as used tires to pave roads. This new technology has been proven to be cheaper and more durable, as well as time-efficient. It will also mean that more roads can be built faster with the use of the new plant.

According to Adams, the plant is nearly 98% completed and has seen some delay due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which saw the German technicians who were required to make a final installation, departing the country. “We’ve had one electrical component that wasn’t a part of the original shipment and that delayed the commissioning. We have it in place, the company has shipped it, we have already cleared it, and it’s there ready to install. COVID-19 is causing a delay in that part being put in, however, because the German technicians had to go back to Germany, and once the airports are reopened the team will make their way back here, and we do the testing and the commissioning.”

He further stated that the Demerara Harbour Bridge has been recently meeting with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to work out agreements on a way forward to fulfil some requirements that the company has to comply with to satisfy the EPA. Adams further stated that the DHBC is currently utilizing the services of its current asphalt plant to satisfy some orders from the ministry of Public Infrastructure that had previously been paid for; he stated that outside of that no current works are being carried out at that plant.