Cemetery Road Expansion Project to complete by March end, shares Juan Edghill

Georgetown, Guyana: The Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, announced that the Cemetery Road expansion project is scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2024. He shared this information during consideration of the 2024 estimates. 

While addressing the Committee of Supply in the Parliament on Wednesday, Edghill stated that the expansion project failed to meet its 2023 deadline, but they are determined to complete the work soon. 

It is to be noted that the multi-million-dollar project, costing $475 million, will expand Cemetery Road to four lanes, which will include the construction of concrete drains and walkways and the reconstruction of surface culverts.

Moreover, Guyana President Irfaan Ali and the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar paid a visit to the construction site with the contractor and engineers earlier this month to inspect the ongoing works and provide an update. 

However, he discovered that only 35 per cent of the work had been done to date, and there were significant gaps, which resulted in the delay in the completion of the Cemetery Road Expansion project. 

Notably, ahead of Minister Indar’s visit, the Ministry of Public Works issued a statement that telecommunications company GTT has been pointed out for failing to lay fibre cables in the project area. 

This caused a delay in civil works on the concrete bridge at the top of Princess Street, Guyana.

Minister of Public Works Edghill warned the contractor he would terminate the contract if they failed to meet the commitment by the end of January during the Ministry’s end-of-year press conference. 

“The project is significantly behind time, which is of concern to us. The contractor has received a revised deadline of January 2024 to complete this road… if January end comes and this project is not completed, the contractor will be removed from the project and we will get a proper contractor, a dedicated contractor, to complete, or then Special Projects Unit”, added Minister Edghill.

Additionally, the work has been recommenced and is expected to be completed by the end of March.