The Ministry of Public Infra-structure (MPI) through its Central Transport and Planning Unit (CTPU) on Monday held another public consultation on the planned upgrade of the Parika Stelling and it was revealed that the design of the new facility will have a lifespan of 100 years.
A release from MPI yesterday said that this was according to Adrian Douglas, who is a consultant attached to the United Kingdom Consulting firm, Mott MacDonald.
The release said that Douglas explained during the session, that the new Stelling will be built of reinforced concrete, and the design will take into account the effects of climate change, especially sea level rise in the future.
His colleague Steph Wood, discussed traffic congestion in the area and how the project is being designed to mitigate these factors.
The release said that Wood posited that the objective of the project is to create a technically and economically feasible structure which will be socially inclusive.
The release said that the UK team has been working on the project for the past 4 months gathering data on weather patterns and floods to understand the key issues involved with the upgrade of the Stelling.
Present at the meeting, hosted at the Ministry of Public Infrastructure’s Wight’s Lane, Georgetown office were representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, Ministry of Social Protection, Transport and Harbours Department, the Guyana Police Force Traffic Department, National Drainage and Irrigation Authority and the United Minibus Union and the Ministry of Communities, among others.
SRKN Engineering, a local consulting firm is partnering with Mott McDonald on the project. Its representative Gregory Williams in his presentation alluded to the issues affecting the Stelling at present, some of which include poor structural condition, the lack of climate resilience and poor traffic management
The consultants revealed that lights will be installed throughout the passageway to cater for passenger movement at nights. The release added that a suggestion was made by a representative for a system to be out in place for carts to help transport goods for passengers to the Stelling.
Chief Transport Planning Officer, Patrick Thompson reminded the gathering that the project is intended to transform not only the Stelling but the entire Parika.
The first Public Consultation on the planned Parika Stelling upgrade was held on the 21st January, 2020. Another one was held yesterday.
