… Edghill says pay no mind to current rise and fall in road, this will be fixed
Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill announced on Wednesday that to improve the flow of traffic along the Sheriff/Mandela road project, contractors will begin working at nights when the COVID-19 curfew is in effect.
At the time, Minister Edghill was participating in an assessment of ongoing works at Hunter Street and on the Sheriff/ Mandela Road Expansion Project. Stopping on Mandela Avenue, he provided his thoughts in summary.
He said that though he is satisfied that the project is no longer stagnant, in some areas works are progressing too slow thereby affecting the flow of traffic.
The Minister has therefore directed that paving of the road along Sheriff Street up to the National Culture Center be done at nights when the curfew begins. Edghill, along with contractors, believes that this will significantly increase the pace of the works as persons are expected to be within the confines of their yard or home during this period.
This new strategy will begin by next week Monday taking place between 10:0pm to 4:30 am. The reflective notices will be posted in the media.
“The level of traffic is such that if we attempt to pave this road during the day there will be massive disruptions here and we will be defeating our whole purpose of what we’re trying to accomplish here,” Local Project Coordinator, KrishnaNarine explained.
While works are being done at nights, works will be done in the day from DSL near the East Bank Public Road to the Arapaima bridge on Mandela, a length of about 2.5km. Meanwhile, advance works will begin in August.
Apart from the Night works, Minister Edghill said that the public must have noticed that along the project there are blockers that are causing flooding.
He said that the Ministry of Public Works’ core team will commence internal works on the drains while the contractors will remove all blockages to allow for water flow.
While the paved road at some parts seems undulating to the public, Minister Edghill said that the final paving has not yet taken place which will ultimately level out this first phase of asphalt work.
“In case people had concerns that this is how the road will finish, absolutely not. This paving is being done by a local subcontractor, BK International and the final paving, an international paving company has been subcontracted to do the final paving so it wouldn’t be BK,” he told the media. He said the quality of the finished road will be similar to the West Coast Demerara road.
Other experts of the team explained that the first phase of asphalt work is meant to even out depressions and bumps while the final layer comes near the end of the project and presents a vastly improved layer.
At the Lamaha Bridge, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI), Shaik Baksh and the Ministry’s Project Engineer have been instructed to determine no later than March 24, 2020 where the pipes will be placed to allow contractors to construct a bypass and move pace with works.
