Four Indian companies have been pre-qualified by the Government of India to tender for the construction of the Ogle to Eccles four-lane highway funded by the India’s Exim Bank, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill recently announced.
Speaking at the commissioning of the Hunter Street upgrade last week, Edghill said that the Irfaan-Ali led government has received official notification that four companies have been prequalified.
According to the Minister, they are currently informing the pre-qualified bidders of the development and will soon be inviting bids. It is expected that a contract will be awarded during the final quarter of this year.
“We have received official notification that the companies for the building of the four-lane road from Ogle to Eccles have been prequalified by the Indian Government because it is a financing from the Indian Exim Bank,” Edghill announced before explaining that the “road will continue with a four-lane from Eccles to Diamond, which is a different road you are hearing right now being built by the Ministry of Housing, and then we will continue from Diamond to Timehri with the intent of being able to link both airports.”
Just after taking office, the PPP/C-led government amended the design of the proposed Ogle to Diamond bypass road to bring the project costs in line with the funds made available by the Indian Government.
During a visit to India in January 2015, then President Donald Ramotar had received a US$50 million loan commitment from the Indian Exim bank to fund the road project.
The procurement process will see invitations extended to international bidders and will be monitored by the Indian Government.
Under the project, the first phase of the road is to be constructed from Ogle, East Coast Demerara, to Haags Bosch on the East Bank of Demerara and will later have a connection to Diamond, East Bank Demerara.
A new connection point in the second phase had to be established since that was a factor driving up the cost of the project. The area in Mocha, where a section of the road would have passed through is swampy and millions would have be spent to develop the area to facilitate the connection.
Indian company RITES Limited was awarded a US$1.3 million contract to undertake a feasibility study.
In July last year, the Ministry on its Facebook page had released a short video of the design for the proposed road link. The design featured a four-lane highway and two roundabouts to assist with the flow of traffic. With the change in work plans, the design has been modified.
