With no bids received for the Ogle to Eccles four-lane highway project, government will be retendering with help from India to attract interest from a wider pool of contractors.
The project, which is being funded by India’s Exim Bank, has been delayed as a result of the situation.
Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill yesterday explained that following the re-engagement with the Indian government, Guyana has been given approval to retender the project. He stated that the bank has agreed to have the technical prequalification done by India’s Ministry of Transport with the aim of drawing a wider pool of contractors. This process was initiated on October 29 and will run concurrently with the local ministry invitation for financial bids from interested companies.
Edghill told Stabroek News that while the process is being done simultaneously, only financial bids of firms which are compliant in the technical prequalification will be opened.
The funding agency will provide a list of approved pre-qualified bidders to the Ministry by December 6 and financial bids here will be opened on December 10 at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board.
The initial bids were expected to be submitted by August by four Indian companies that were pre-qualified by the Government of India to tender for the project.
Government is hoping to have at least 12 lanes, which includes the highway, to relieve the East Bank Demerara traffic congestion, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo told a news conference on Monday as he disclosed that by 2023 an additional four lanes of road will be opened up.
“On the 15th November, we’re opening the bid for the piece between Eccles [and] Diamond and hopefully before the end of the year, we can award a contract for that road. By end of next year [and] early 2023, we should have a four-lane road to Diamond coming from Mandela,” Jagdeo explained on Monday.
Since taking office, government has been working to ease the traffic congestion on the East Bank Demerara Public Road via the construction of new alternative routes.
A section of the road between Eccles and Diamond has already been completed and another phase is being constructed linking Eccles with Mandela Avenue.
The new section of the road, for which bids are being received, will be a four-lane highway from Eccles to Great Diamond and will act as a connector to the Ogle to Eccles highway.
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.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday disclosed that the government was hoping to have the project started by the end of this year but the failure to draw bids does not allow for the timetable.
This, he said, will negatively impact government’s developmental process along the route.
Should the project be delayed further, he said, government will have to consider investing in a single-lane road along the route to give access to properties in the area.
