Croal gets additional $12.4B for Housing Ministry to fix more roads

Jan 29, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – During this past week’s 2022 budget presentation, Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, announced that another $12.4B has been budgeted for the Ministry of Housing to fix more roads.

Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh

Dr. Singh told the National Assembly that the $12.4B is to continue infrastructure works in housing areas.
These infrastructure works, he said, will include the upgrading of 45.5 km of roads in 31 existing housing schemes across Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10. The road upgrade will be complemented with the construction of drainage structures and the installation of LED (Light Emitting Diode) street lamps.
Additionally, said the Senior Minister, “Government also aims to complete the construction of the electricity distribution networks in existing housing schemes along with procurement of electrical hardware for new housing schemes”
According to Dr. Singh’s, a total of $18.7B was expended last year by the Ministry for similar infrastructural works, in 11 existing housing schemes.
These he said, are Great Diamond and Prospect on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) and Cummings Lodge on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD)
In the past fixing roads has been the sole responsibility of the Ministry of Public Works. However, as of recent, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) a government agency that falls under the Ministry of Housing, has been tasked with rehabilitating, upgrading and constructing road networks within housing schemes across the country.

Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal.

One of the major road projects that CH&PA recently executed is the Eccles to Diamond four lane highway at a cost of some $1.9 billion.
Kaieteur News earlier this month reported that Ministry of Housing will be spending some US$7M to “patch” the Eccles dumpsite road.
It had put out a tender for the road works and some five firms had reportedly applied to execute the works.
It was also reported that the ministry is currently constructing a $147M roundabout that will connect the Sheriff/Mandela road to the new bypass road to Eccles.