Work to widen the public road from Belfield to Mahaica commenced over the weekend under phase two of the East Coast Demerara Road (ECD) improvement project.
Under the project which is being executed by China Railway First Group, works will also commence for the transformation of the double-lane ECD railway embankment into a four-lane thoroughfare. Within a week, works are expected to commence from Sheriff Street to Orange Nassau to facilitate the transformation.
Technical Services Manager at the Ministry of Public Works, Nigel Erskine in a brief comment explained that the contractor will work in three teams to complete the project in 28 months.
He pointed out that the widening works are currently being carried out between Belfield and Hope, ECD. On both side of the roads, Erskine explained the widened section will accommodate pedestrian walkways. This section of the roadway is expected to be completed by July, 2023.
Expanding on the works for the railway embankment to be converted into four lanes to ease traffic congestion, Erskine stated that a new section of road between Enmore and Mahaica will also be constructed.
In addition to the 48 bridges and 22 culverts which will be constructed on the East Coast Demerara Public Road and the Railway Embankment Road, a major bridge will be built across the Hope Canal.
The new road will feature an asphaltic concrete surface and will have traffic signals, traffic signs, street lights and concrete drains along the entire length of the roadway, the technical services manager added.
The massive road construction project is being done to the tune of US$192m from the China EXIM bank and is scheduled to be completed at the end of January 2025.
The contract was awarded to China Railway First Group in 2022. China Railway First Group had constructed the first phase of the East Coast Demerara road-widening project at a cost of US$$43M.
In December 2022, Guyana struck a US$192m loan deal with China for the major expansion and road upgrade.
Making brief remarks at the contract signing last year, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill noted that the project is a major intervention in the road network along the East Coast corridor and will create greater accessibility.
“The already congested new four-lane needs to be supported by additional carriageways. It was the PPP/C while in office in the 2011 period that started that East Coast expansion and widening and here we are today. It will see the railway embankment from Sheriff Street (from the roundabout) to Orange Nassau being expanded into four lanes then the expansion of the East Coast. Then there will be the rehabilitation of the existing ECD road from Belfield to Orange Nassau. This will allow us to have additional lanes (four lanes on the railway embankment and for some sections – two lanes so that we’ll be able to see greater comfort in commuting into the city or out of the city while allowing for larger capacity in terms of containerized traffic to help with the movement of goods that will eventually evolve with the development of Enmore as a major job-creation centre”, Edghill stated.
