As the future of the ageing Demerara Harbour Bridge moves closer to the centre of the public agenda, information is emerging about what is now believed to be government’s plans to pursue a reliable option to the existing structure.
Last week, Stabroek Business met several officials of the West Demerara Chamber of Commerce and Industry to discuss issues relating to business and commerce in Region Three, during which time uncertainties associated with the future of the bridge arose. During the meeting, the Chamber’s President Sase Shiwnarain told Stabroek Business that the Chamber had learnt that a feasibility study had been conducted and it was likely that a second bridge would be constructed north of the existing one.
Earlier this week Shiwnarain said that in response to the information arising out of the exchange, Chamber representatives had been invited to a meeting with Demerara Harbour Bridge General Manager Rawlston Adams aimed at setting the record straight on the matter of linking the two shores of the Demerara River. Adams, according to Shiwnarain, told the Chamber delegation that government was set to conduct a pre-feasibility study within the next three to four weeks during which attention would be given to three possible locations for the construction of a new bridge; the first being between Versailles and Houston, another between Plantation New Hope and Vriesland and a third being at a location close to the existing one. Adams, the Chamber President told Stabroek Business, said that at the conclusion of the pre-feasibility study a feasibility study would then narrow down the envisaged crossing points.
Based on these pursuits, Adams reportedly envisages that a new bridge should be in place within the next four to five years.
Shiwnarain said he had the impression that the meeting had been convened in an effort, first, to address the issue of disinformation about the future of the Demerara Harbour Bridge and official plans for an alternative crossing point as well as to ensure that stakeholders, including the Region Three business community were kept abreast of developments in relation to an alternative service. He said the exchange between Chamber officials and Adams had better positioned the West Demerara Chamber to keep the business community abreast of what he described as “a matter of particular importance to communities west of the Demerara River”.
