The decision to reverse the EPA’s non-requirement of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the new Demerara River Bridge lies solely with the Environmental Assessment Board (EAB) according to EPA’s Executive Director Kemraj Parsram.
Parsram said that the issue of the EIA for the bridge is now “sub-judice” following intense objections from environmentalists and advocacy bodies. There is an appeal of the decision before the EAB but the Board has been relatively silent as to when there would be a hearing or how it intends to treat with the appeal.
“That is sub-judice. You have an objection before because that is an objection to the decision that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) did not require an ESIA. That’s a different game. It is an objection and it is now for the EAB to have its decision whether to set aside our decision or to approve it,” he explained in a brief comment to Stabroek News.
He added that the EPA is now waiting on that decision from the EAB and thus far no intended time frame has been communicated to the authority.
The government during the procurement process, had specified that the design should accommodate a two-lane dual (four-lane) carriageway, hybrid cable-stayed centre-span bridge with concrete box/T-beam girder approach bridge structures, and must include bridge collision protection, a navigation span to accommodate Handymax vessel navigation aids, lighting, signage, and all other ancillary works, an access road with a minimum of 50 meters up to abutments, toll-collection buildings and ancillary buildings on the West Bank of the Demerara River.
When completed, government wants a new four-lane, high-span fixed bridge in the vicinity of the current location and which terminates at Nandy Park on the East Bank of Demerara. “The new design of the Demerara Harbour Bridge will not require opening or retraction to allow for maritime traffic and will be built with a life span of at least 50 years,” the bidding document states.
Government has said that it may have to acquire those lands which fall into the path of the new location which terminates at Nandy Park on the east bank and La Grange on the west bank, but a decision on that matter has not yet been made.
President Irfaan Ali had said that the new bridge would be a very high one, standing at a minimum of 50 metres or as high as or higher than the Marriott Hotel, to facilitate the clearance for vessels.
The decision not to require an EIA was made in August of 2021 and saw the EPA backpedalling from its previous decision to require such a study.
Environmentalist and geologist Simone Mangal-Joly had told Stabroek News that the hydrology of the Demerara River stands to be affected and that the EPA’s conclusion that the environmental impacts would not be significant is irrational since the design for the bridge is non-existent.
In early November, the Irfaan Ali government announced the selection of China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) to build the bridge for US$256,638,289. In its tender document, CSCEC submitted the cost based on the Design, Build and Finance (DBF) option, or Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Maintain (DBFOM).
That means that CSCEC would be responsible for designing the bridge based on the government’s specifications. It is on that ground that several environmentalists and other professionals are continuously objecting to the EPA’s decision to not require an EIA.
However, during a February 1, 2022 interview with VICE Media Group Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo announced that the Guyana Government had terminated talks with China State Construction Engineering Corporation for the building of the new Demerara Harbour Bridge as its financing costs were too high.
The talks are expected to move to the second-ranked bidder with the expectations of financing costs dropping.
