By Joseph Allen
The Ministry of Housing and Water last evening commissioned the Eccles/Haags Bosch roundabout on the East Bank Demerara.
At a cost of some $60 million, the centrepiece of the roundabout is a representation of the Amazon in Guyana with the insertion of the Jaguar, surrounded by trees, a pond, and several water streams. The contract was awarded to the Build Smart Construction Company.
Meanwhile, a section of the Eccles/Haags Bosch highway was also constructed, and commissioned yesterday, with four lanes of traffic through the community of Eccles, which connects the East Bank traffic to the Mandela/ Eccles Highway that leads into Ruimveldt, Georgetown.
The project, which will run from Mandela Avenue in Georgetown to Silica City on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway is now entering its second phase.
Works on the highway began on April 15, 2021, and the first phase, Mandela to Eccles, was completed on April 13, 2022. Present at the opening were President Irfaan Ali, Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal, Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues, along with several other ministers and contractors.
Speaking at the commissioning President Ali said that the road stands for ease of access.
“This junction will connect the east coast with the Ogle bypass, it connects Georgetown with the Mandela bypass, and it connects Eccles and going back to the East Bank to the Eccles bypass and it connects where I’m standing here, the Peters Hall bypass. Very importantly. Bringing together four roads to a central.”
Further, he explained that this connection is expected to ease traffic from the old highway.
“A lot of the traffic from Eccles will now be able to come on directly from the highway from Providence to Peters Hall going into Georgetown. So, hopefully, when school opens, we will not have the type of delays in traffic that we have had before”
By the end of all the projects, the President emphasised that there would be some eight new connections to the new highway from the old one.
Ali also touched on the aesthetics of the roundabout and noted that it stands as “positioning the Guyanese brand,” helping to reignite Guyanese pride.
“These developments are an important part of the infrastructure transformation of our country, but infrastructure transformation cannot do what we need to do in terms of ourselves; our self-belief, our belief in ourselves as Guyanese, and our belief in our country. One of the greatest things that we should do now, as we build this new modern prosperous Guyana for all is to develop a sense of pride and that is what we are doing in this government. A lot of the work that we are doing in the government is the softer side of the work that is not understood, but these facilities are the emphasis of improving the look of Guyana and importantly, reigniting that sense of pride that all of us must feel proud to be Guyanese.”
He urged that the facility be protected by all.
When the full network of roads is completed, it will feature digital ticketing technology, along with a mobile police outpost.
The President said that all of this is to show that Guyana can rank among the best and by the end of 2027 much of the work will be done in-house.
