As part of its contribution to Guyana’s Golden Jubilee celebration this year, the Banks DIH Group of Companies will be funding the creation and installation of an arch to replace the missing Ruimveldt Arch.
This is according to Banks DIH Chairman Clifford Reis, who told reporters yesterday that the new arch will be located at Agricola, which is now the boundary of the capital city.
The Ruimveldt Arch was one of two arches presented to the government and people of Guyana on the occasion of the country’s independence in 1966. The second arch is the Brickdam Indepen-dence Arch, which was the focus of much activity last year when the new government decided to restore it and have that location used as the centre for celebration of the country’s 49th Independence.
The Ruimveldt Arch has been missing since it was removed in November 14, 2004. At the time expansion works were ongoing on the East Bank road from the Demerara Harbour Bridge to Ruimveldt, where the arch was located.
When the arch was taken down, the then Public Works Minister Anthony Xavier was quoted by the Government Information Agency (GINA) as saying that a new one would be set up across the four-lane road.
Four years after its removal, the then Public Works Minister Robeson Benn had told Stabroek News that the damage caused during its removal and bad storage had made the Independence Arch unsuitable to be put up anywhere in the city. At the time, the government had again committed to its rebuilding and reinstallation before the 2009 Independence celebrations.
Today, more than 10 years after the removal of the arch it is nowhere to be found. Over the last year Stabroek News has made several attempts to locate the arch or a record of its last location. However, these attempts have all been unsuccessful.
Staff of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, including Walter Willis, Technical Adviser at the Ministry, have told Stabroek News that the last they knew of the Arch was that it was stored in the compound of the Ministry on Fort Street.
The arches, which marked the former boundaries of the capital city, were on May 22, 1966 formally presented to then Prime Minister Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham by the Managing Director of the Demerara Bauxite Company, Mr. J G Campbell.
In his presentation, Mr. Campbell noted that the arches, which were designed by a Canadian architect, Mr. Edric Flack, could be described as truly Guyanese. They had been built of aluminum that was made from the bauxite from Mackenzie.
Both arches had been popular landmarks since their construction.
