…approval will allow Ashoka Buildcon to begin mobilisation
The Government has written the Indian Exim Bank, through the diplomatic channels, to seek the bank’s no objection for Ashoka Buildcon Limited, the contractor that won the contract to construct the India-funded Ogle to Eccles bypass road.
This was revealed by Minister within the Public Works Ministry, Deodat Indar, who in an interview with this publication provided an update on the project. According to him, they have, through Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr KJ Srinivasa, already sought this no objection from the State-owned Indian Exim Bank.
“Remember we went out to bid and nobody bid. Nobody submitted a proposal from the original shortlist. We went out again and we received a number of proposals. And those were evaluated. And currently, we have dispatched communication through the High Commissioner in Guyana, the Indian High Commissioner, to the Indian Exim Bank for a no objection of the proposals received.”
“Based on the evaluations, we disseminated a no objection letter to the Government of India through the Indian High Commission here, so that we can move forward in the process. These international projects, the procurement is very complex. There are many laws we have to comply with. And we’re making sure we comply with them,” Indar said.
It was announced last month that Ashoka Buildcon Limited won the contract to construct the road, ahead of two other Indian companies. Ashoka has 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, East Bank Demerara (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 last year for an alternative road connecting Diamond and Eccles on the EBD corridor in order to ease the traffic congestion.
The new alternative road runs from Sixth Avenue, Diamond to the Windsor Estate Road that leads on to the Eccles Landfill Site Road, forming a connection through the new Herstelling Housing Scheme and other schemes that are being developed along the EBD corridor. The road was opened in December of last year. Additionally, a second road is being constructed between Eccles and Mandela Avenue.
