The future of the East Bank Demerara highway at Craig, where the Demerara River is undercutting sections of the road, will be determined when a feasibility study for the proposed four-lane highway is completed.
The authorities, meanwhile, are considering whether to invest any more money to protect the area from the destabilizing waters. In addition, the future of dwellings in the problematic area will be reviewed.
Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn, told reporters at his end-of-year press conference on Friday that the authorities will have to consider whether to continue to invest in revetment works in the area. Recently, cabinet approved a $64M contract for revetment works to be undertaken at Craig, but residents as well as experts in the field of engineering told this newspaper that a more viable and futuristic plan needed to be looked at for the area.
While responding to a question on the future of works as well as residents of the area which has been repeatedly flooded by the river, Benn noted that the area between Craig to the village of New Hope located further south along the EBD thoroughfare is being undermined by the river. He said that the problem is almost 2 decades old and further investment in revetment works will be reviewed.
Residents living on the western side of the roadway, closer to the Demerara River had indicated that the authorities had notified them that they may have to move in future and Benn noted that when the four-lane highway project comes on stream, several areas will be reconsidered.
He said that he could not pronounce on whether the residents will have to relocate but noted that a feasibility study will have to be undertaken for the area when the project gets on stream.
Meanwhile, Benn said that the agency had completed almost 100% of its work programme for 2010 as several projects, which began in 2010 and before, are to be completed during the 2011 fiscal year.
Chairman of the Work Services Group (WSG), Rickford Lowe, stated that repairs and rehabilitation of roads and culverts along the coastland including Georgetown are expected to be completed during the New Year. He noted that a feasibility and design study is being undertaken for the planned EBD four lane project between Providence and Diamond.
Under the nationally funded Transport Infrastructural Project, Leon Goring of the WSG stated that the agency’s budgeted sum of $2B for 2010 had ballooned to $4.2B as a number of roads in addition to the planned 199 roads, were being looked at.
He said that the total number of roads being repaired/renovated is 486, which amounts to 198 miles of roads. To date some 200 roads have been completed. In relation to the Hinterland road programme, roads in Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine are slated for repairs.
These include the Monkey Mountain/Karasabai road, the road between Mountain Point and Katuna Ridge as well as the road leading to St Cuthbert’s Mission. Approximately 8.5 miles of road are to be renovated at the latter location, as well as five culverts.
Traffic lights
At the moment, Goring said, 47 of the 48 traffic lights in the city are operable though he noted that the operation of these fixtures is being affected by three main problems: vandalism, loss of electric power and road accidents. Benn disclosed that to date, about 80 vehicles are being held culpable for damaging the structures during accidents.
This year the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) is expected to undergo structural repairs and DHB General Manager, Rawlston Adams noted that marine traffic will be interrupted during this time. He said vehicular traffic will continue to flow while repairs are undertaken to the ramps of the bridge. Adams noted that cables along the 1.8 KM long bridge will also be replaced during the coming year. He said that the recent adjustment to the ticketing operations at the bridge, whereby motorists no longer surrender tickets at the booth on the western side of the bridge, has eased the flow of traffic along the bridge.
He said that for 2010 the DHB raked in $395M in revenue while figures indicated that more than 2 million vehicles, at 7000 per day, travelled across the bridge in a westerly direction; the figure represented an 8.7% increase in traffic. For the year also, 1205 vessels travelled passed the bridge.
Meantime, Chief Executive Officer of the Cheddi Jagan Airport Corporation (CJIA), Ramesh Ghir, told the media that for 2010, some 226 865 passengers travelled through the airport but the figures did not include visitor arrivals. He said the total represented a 9% increase in passenger movement at the airport. Ghir noted that the airport corporation hosted a number of workshops and training programmes during 2010 to improve its operations, including security.
He stated that infrastructural works to the airport undertaken in 2010 included rehabilitation of the main taxiways as well as the international apron. In addition, improvement of lighting along the main runway strips as well as works to washroom facilities, added to improvements at the airport.
He said that a plan to replace squatters operating shops close to the airport’s departure lounge with model shops is bearing fruit, adding that the proposal was already discussed with the shop owners.
Meantime, Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) director general, Zulficar Mohammed, stated that the VOR and Instrument Landing Systems to improve flight operations into the airport are slated for completion during the early part of 2011. He said that technical staff attached to the GCAA’s Air Traffic Services were recently trained in Canada to operate the navigation and landing aids at the airport and, according to him, additional in-house training is expected to be carried out to familiarize other technical staff with the aviation aids during this year.
