India has approved financing for the four-lane Ogle to Eccles road nearly a year ahead of schedule.
“Today we received the news that all of the approval has been given in India. We are moving to the procurement stage. This is a project that was delayed for almost seven years,” President Irfaan Ali said yesterday during his inaugural address to the 12th Parliament.
The President stressed that his government had in just six months been able to bring forward the approval of the road by almost a year.
The Ogle to Diamond bypass road was first piloted by the Donald Ramotar government as a corridor for communities on the East Bank, including Perseverance, Providence, Eccles, Peter’s Hall and Aubrey Barker Road. It will also provide a bypass away from the city reducing traffic congestion on the East Bank Highway.
During his visit to India in January 2015, Ramotar had received a US$50 million loan commitment from the Indian Exim bank to fund the road project which stalled over the five years the APNU+AFC was in government over increased costs.
Last year the Irfaan Ali government amended the design so the project cost could be in line with the available sums. The Indian Government accepted the proposal.
Minister within the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar had previously told Stabroek News that after talks with the Indian government they were in agreement to accelerate the project. He explained that the Indian government will have oversight of the procurement process and will invite international bidders to submit bids.
The US$50 million will see the first phase of the road constructed from Ogle, East Coast Demerara, to Haags Bosch on the East Bank and will later have a connection to Diamond, East Bank Demerara.
It is part of an “infrastructure transformation” which Ali announced yesterday.
According to the President his government will be opening up of hundreds of thousands of acres of agriculture lands through the investment in farm to market roads and drainage and irrigation systems
New super-highways on the West Demerara, East Coast and East Bank corridors will be constructed along with a New Demerara River Bridge crossing.
There will be support for private investment in new hotels adding at least 2000 more rooms to the stock; a new shore base and harbour facilities supported by Government policies and planning and investment in new ferries and capital drainage equipment to improve the efficiency of Guyanese ports.
“One of the major difficulties of our ports is the dredging of the Demerara River, and it has caused our ports to become very inefficient. We are going to invest in the Capital equipment to resolve this issue and make our ports viable, sustainable and operate at an optimal manner [and] create an enabling environment that would see investments leading to a new deep-water harbour connections to regional and international markets,” Ali stated.
Other infrastructure projects to be pursued include the creation of the infrastructure that will see more investment in agro- processing and manufacturing supported by a ballooning of engineering services; creation of new road networks in the hinterland and riverine communities, a new road and river link between Timehri and Bartica; commencement of works on the Parika – Goshen Road; investment in key transformative infrastructure in the hinterland, Region 10, Region 2 and Region 6 as well as the modernisation of community roads across all regions and investment in hinterland and regional airstrips to boost the tourism product.
