The lives of persons residing on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) will soon be made easier as rehabilitation works for the main access roads are slated for an August completion. This was revealed to Guyana Standard today by the Ministry of Public Works.
The foregoing project falls under the ‘Rehabilitation of Public and Main Access Roads Programme’ that is part of a larger project, the East Bank Highway Transport Infrastructure Programme, which has to undergo various phases before its completion.
The government has already commenced the construction of concrete drains at Grove and the widening of several roads, which includes the Grove Public Road. Other roads to be widened include Back Street Diamond, Third Avenue Diamond and the First Bridge, New Grove.
The project also includes building/widening bridges to link New Grove to Kaneville and Grove to Good Success. The Kanville bridge, the Kaneville Main Access Road and Back Street, 5th Cross St and Third St in Grove will also be rehabilitated and widened. The second bridge linking Grove to Good Success and the Good Success Sideline Dam is also slated for major upgrades.
Another phase of the project is the building of a bypass road from Good Success to East Bank Public Road, for which bids were opened yesterday by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board, and according to the Ministry, a contract should be awarded soon. It was indicated that following its completion, transport vehicles such as buses and cars will be allowed, however, “heavily laden vehicles and trucks will be restricted from using these bypasses”.
Additionally, the ministry reiterated that the current works are being executed through local funding. However, the East Bank Demerara Highway’s expansion up to Soesdyke will utilize funds from the recently approved US$100 million Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan that supports climate resilience in Guyana’s road infrastructure development.
