The Ogle to Eccles bypass road, which had to be retendered in November because the first invitation for bids failed to attract any bidders, has now attracted bids from three Indian contracting firms.
The bids were opened by the Finance Ministry’s National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) last week. According to the tender minutes, Indian firm Afcons submitted a US$108 million bid for the project.
Meanwhile, Ashoka Buildcon Limited also submitted a bid, this time of US$111.9 million. Indian firm Dinesh Chandra R Agrawal Infracon Pvt Limited (DRAIPL) submitted the lowest bid of US$106.7 million. All three firms had a bid security of US$500,000.
Based on checks on Afcons, the firm has done work ranging from road and other infrastructure, to work in the oil and gas sector. This work has included installing an offshore process platform and modifying existing ones.
DRAIPL has meanwhile done extensive work on roads and highways, including bypass roads, for the Indian Government. They have also done work in the aviation sector, constructing hangars and heliports.
Ashoka Buildcon Limited has meanwhile built a number of bridges and roads. According to the company’s website, it even built a bridge in 38 days, namely the Mandve Bridge near Pandharpur, India. According to the company, the bridge was supposed to be built in 12 months.
In February 2021, the Government of India had approved the new scope of works for the redesigned bypass road project that would link the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) at Ogle to Haags Bosch in Eccles, on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD).
The Diamond-Ogle bypass project will see the construction of some 26 kilometres of road linking two of the country’s main thoroughfares. This new road link will also be connected to key communities in Georgetown and along the East Bank of Demerara. These include Diamond, Mocha and Eccles – all on the East Bank – and Aubrey Barker Road in Georgetown. These connections will prove crucial in diverting traffic.
RITES Limited, an engineering consultancy company based in India, had undertaken a 10-month design consultancy, which produced a Detailed Project Report (DPR) outlining the draft final design of the bypass road. It is this report which recommended a four-lane highway as most feasible.
Rajendra Sothwal, a senior engineer with RITES Limited, had previously said the bypass road would include a metal beam barrier, concrete crash barrier, traffic signs and impact attenuators that reduce damage to infrastructure, pavement markings, highway lighting, a raised median that will reduce headlight glare.
Back in 2015, the Indian Government had provided a US$50 million Line of Credit (LOC) for the road link that was initially slated for Ogle to Diamond, EBD. However, the project cost was driven up to over $208 million by the previous A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government and the project languished under them.
However, when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government took office in 2020, it redesigned the project into two phases to fit the LOC – first from Ogle to Haags Bosch road, which is about 48-50 per cent of the project, and then from Haags Bosch to Diamond – in order to fit the US$50 million LOC. Because of these changes in the scope of the project, additional approvals were required from New Delhi, and after several months, this was obtained.
Meanwhile, Government has undertaken several new road projects along the EBD corridor to ease the heavy traffic congestion. Works were done earlier this year for an alternative road connecting Diamond and Eccles on the EBD corridor in order to ease the traffic congestion.
The new alternative road will run from Sixth Avenue, Diamond to the Windsor Estate Road that leads on to the Eccles Landfill Site Road. This will form a connection through the new Herstelling Housing Scheme and other schemes that are being developed along the EBD corridor. The project is slated to be completed by April 2021. Additionally, a second road is being constructed between Eccles and Mandela Avenue.
