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THE Housing Ministry is building several secondary roads among the housing schemes on the East Bank Demerara (EBD), which, according to Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, will assist with the vast volume of traffic that will emerge out of the massive development taking place along the East Bank corridor. They, as well, will accommodate the future development and expansion of the new East Bank housing schemes, in a more structured way, the minister said, during a media tour of some of the roadways yesterday.
Minister Ali checked on the alternative linking roadways being constructed in Farm and in Herstelling Phase B. Accompanying the minister was Project Manager of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), Fazal Wahab.
Minister Ali advised that the other roadways will stretch from areas such as Diamond to Herstelling, Herstelling to Providence, and Providence to Eccles. He said also that the ministry is constructing an 18-foot road in Farm that will extend all the way to the first cross dam (high voltage dam), where, he indicated, a main collector road will be built, connecting all the secondary roads.
The end goal of the ministry is to have about 10 secondary roads that will facilitate the movement of traffic between the East Coast and East Bank. In fact he said, initially, the goal is to link Ogle to Providence and then as time and revenue permit, from Ogle to further down the East Bank.
Wahab said that the road construction is part of the ministry’s development on the East Bank that started over two years ago, spanning Eccles to Diamond, that has seen close to $10B being invested in infrastructure work.
“This development is massive, it is over 4,000 acres of land and at the end of it, we will see approximately 10 east to west connecting roads. So far we have identified six connecting roads going all the way initially from Diamond-Herstelling area and then linking there to go on to Eccles. That would significantly take the burden off the existing East Bank road congestion, not only to serve that purpose, but will also integrate the community from Diamond all the way to Eccles,” he said.
“No longer would someone have to come up to the East Bank public road to go to Diamond. You just drive through these roads… residents and commuters would now have a choice rather than just wasting valuable time on the only East Bank road that we have right now.”
He said also that the roads are above the international standard of a 12-foot carriageway.
Minister Ali meanwhile reported that of the close to $10B being invested on the East Bank on infrastructure, $2B will be spent in Herstelling-Phase One and Two and another $930M in Herstelling Phase B.
He said that this $10B investment does not include electricity and water, and in fact these two would account for almost another $2B.
These investments have changed the landscape of the East Bank, as persons who would have come prior to the installation of the infrastructure in the area would have recognised the vast difference.
“Those people who came here with us when we started these projects would know that you could not see ten feet from here, or any way around, now you have a clear view, all the way up to Eccles and all the way up till to Farm. That gives you a perspective as to the level of work and development that went into this.”
The ministry’s investment on the East Bank is on-going and development in this regard is expected to continue at least for the next few years. This present phase of development is actually considered Phase One by the ministry, which plans to have further development as the occupancy level increases in the schemes.
For instance, at present, the ministry is paving all the main roads leading into the schemes, and as occupancy rises, the plan is to surface all the internal roads. This is not being done at present since the roads will be damaged by trucks transporting construction materials into the schemes. (GINA)
Minister Ali checked on the alternative linking roadways being constructed in Farm and in Herstelling Phase B. Accompanying the minister was Project Manager of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), Fazal Wahab.
Minister Ali advised that the other roadways will stretch from areas such as Diamond to Herstelling, Herstelling to Providence, and Providence to Eccles. He said also that the ministry is constructing an 18-foot road in Farm that will extend all the way to the first cross dam (high voltage dam), where, he indicated, a main collector road will be built, connecting all the secondary roads.
The end goal of the ministry is to have about 10 secondary roads that will facilitate the movement of traffic between the East Coast and East Bank. In fact he said, initially, the goal is to link Ogle to Providence and then as time and revenue permit, from Ogle to further down the East Bank.
Wahab said that the road construction is part of the ministry’s development on the East Bank that started over two years ago, spanning Eccles to Diamond, that has seen close to $10B being invested in infrastructure work.
“This development is massive, it is over 4,000 acres of land and at the end of it, we will see approximately 10 east to west connecting roads. So far we have identified six connecting roads going all the way initially from Diamond-Herstelling area and then linking there to go on to Eccles. That would significantly take the burden off the existing East Bank road congestion, not only to serve that purpose, but will also integrate the community from Diamond all the way to Eccles,” he said.
“No longer would someone have to come up to the East Bank public road to go to Diamond. You just drive through these roads… residents and commuters would now have a choice rather than just wasting valuable time on the only East Bank road that we have right now.”
He said also that the roads are above the international standard of a 12-foot carriageway.
Minister Ali meanwhile reported that of the close to $10B being invested on the East Bank on infrastructure, $2B will be spent in Herstelling-Phase One and Two and another $930M in Herstelling Phase B.
He said that this $10B investment does not include electricity and water, and in fact these two would account for almost another $2B.
These investments have changed the landscape of the East Bank, as persons who would have come prior to the installation of the infrastructure in the area would have recognised the vast difference.
“Those people who came here with us when we started these projects would know that you could not see ten feet from here, or any way around, now you have a clear view, all the way up to Eccles and all the way up till to Farm. That gives you a perspective as to the level of work and development that went into this.”
The ministry’s investment on the East Bank is on-going and development in this regard is expected to continue at least for the next few years. This present phase of development is actually considered Phase One by the ministry, which plans to have further development as the occupancy level increases in the schemes.
For instance, at present, the ministry is paving all the main roads leading into the schemes, and as occupancy rises, the plan is to surface all the internal roads. This is not being done at present since the roads will be damaged by trucks transporting construction materials into the schemes. (GINA)
