Diamond Car Park to be relocated again

Apr 10, 2013 News

The Diamond Housing Scheme’s temporary car park, situated on the eastern shoulder of the East Bank Demerara Public Road, will soon be relocated to facilitate road widening works from the ‘high bridge’ at Demerara Distillers limited (DDL) to the housing scheme entrance.

The temporary car park at Diamond

While the contractor, BK International, executes works in the area, the park will be situated in front of one of the commercial banks in Diamond, says an engineer of the Public Works Ministry. According to the engineer, following the completion of the stretch into a four-lane roadway, there will be no accommodation for a car park along the thoroughfare.
Arrangements are being discussed with the Ministry of Local Government to decide on a suitable location. The roadside vendors would be relocated to the same area in which the car park will be permanently placed, he added.
The car park is situated near DDL ‘high bridge’- a spot many deem dangerous. In fact, many persons had complained of the taxis obstructing the smooth flow of traffic and the cars parking along the public road.
The taxi drivers were evicted from two previous locations. The park was first located inside the Diamond Housing Scheme near the entrance but they were forced to remove and the spot was taken over by the M&M Snackette. The drivers formed a new park along the roadway but were also forced to relocate.
According to the engineer, Government is eyeing two areas for the possible location of the park. The first option is inside the Diamond Housing Scheme on the market tarmac, which is not being utilised at the moment. This would require the spot to be a designated route so minibuses could offload at the tarmac. The roadside vendors would be relocated to the tarmac. As such, the tarmac will essentially be satisfying its purpose.

Road construction ongoing near the area being vacated

The other option revealed by the engineer is to erect a facility near to the area where a second entrance to Diamond Housing Scheme is expected to be constructed. This option also caters for the roadside vendors.
The relocation of the car park would have happened last year but the road widening project was stalled. Only within recent weeks the contractor resumed works on the multi-million-dollar project.