Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 16, 2021 News
… four-lane road network to reach E/bo & Berbice—VP Jagdeo
Former Guyanese Head of State now Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, this past week briefly outlined his vision for the country as an emerging oil and gas economy and has spelt out the need for the construction of critical supporting infrastructure.
One such critical piece of infrastructure, according to the Vice President, is the still to be completed US$150 million upgrade of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
Casting blame of the shortcomings on the coalition A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration, Vice President Jagdeo in an interview with a Facebook group ‘Abee Chunes Radio’ said, “…the airport has to be redone; you know they made a mess of it.”
Prefacing his arguments for the redoing of the country’s largest international airport, Dr. Jagdeo disclosed that as part of his People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) vision for the new Guyana economy, there would be a build out of up to 12 lanes of roadway leading away from the central airport, stretching to Essequibo and Berbice.
This, he said, is in order to complement the existing network of highways and roads.
According to Dr. Jagdeo, “we have mapped out several infrastructures that we need to put in place to support the vision of an emerging oil and gas economy, but a bigger Guyanese economy generally on the whole.”
He told the moderators “Our aim is to ensure that the non-oil sector, that is the non-oil economy, grows rapidly too.”
This, he said, was in order to avoid the fate of many other countries that discovered oil and caused their traditional industries—such as sugar, rice and tourism in Guyana—to be left by the wayside, in order to focus on the oil and gas industry.
He said that having outlined a vision that is supportive of not only oil and gas but also the other sectors, “we have to put in place supporting infrastructure.”
Dr. Jagdeo pointed to the proposed additions to the road network including a four-lane highway in Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara).
Dr. Jagdeo said that another four-lane road would be constructed from the Demerara River Bridge on the Western Bank of the river to Parika, East Bank Essequibo.
This proposed four-lane highway, according to Dr. Jagdeo, will be in addition to the existing four-lane roadway.
As it relates to the new Demerara River Bridge, the Vice President said that this project has gone out to tender for a four-lane fixed structure.
Speaking to the road network, he disclosed too that by the end of the year, “we hope to start the next project from Ogle, another of the bypass roadways being constructed, the other being the Mandela Avenue to Eccles route, currently under construction. These, he said will complement the existing four-lane network. Dr. Jagdeo said too that in Berbice there are also plans to have the four-lane road network.
The troubled airport rehabilitation project has endured years of delays and re-modification of the scope of works and contract price over the years, with the most recent deadline for completion of the project set for December 21, this year.
The controversial CJIA project is being constructed by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) and was said to be 95 percent completed this past month when the works underway were visited by Minster of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill. The project recently benefitted from an additional $2.5 billion of Government funds.
Over the past nine years, across three administrations, more than US$150 million has been exhausted on the expansion project, which has encountered several delays and a plethora of problems, including a malfunctioning sewer system.
The project was initiated by the PPP/C’s Donald Ramotar administration and when the APNU+AFC coalition assumed office in May 2015, the project, which had been slated for a December 2017 completion, was halted for a review.
Following that review, the scope of work was adjusted, several changes were made, and a new deadline was set for December 2018. In August 2020, the PPP/C regained power, and the Irfaan Ali-led government insisted that the contractor must once again readjust the project to be in compliance with the original contract signed by Ramotar prior to 2015.
In December 2020, CHEC demanded more monies to complete the project as per its original specifications; however, after a series of consultations, the company agreed to finance some $1.8 billion in works, at no cost to the Government of Guyana.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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