The new deadline of February 2022 was announced by the Minister of Public Works, Juan A. Edghill during a site visit today. He noted that work on the road network at moment is about 95% completed.
“As a result of COVID-19 related delays, all the other works apart from this 600 meters which will be paved in the next 48 hours or so, everything else must be completed by the 14th February– the installation of the lights, the signals, the guardrails and everything,” Minister Edghill noted.
Earlier in the year, the same Minister explained that from his perspective the project would have been completed by December.
However, according to Minister Edghill, the delay in shipment and in other instances now push the project to new deadline date.
The Sheriff/ Mandela Road that is a seven-kilometer stretch of road, is a project that started under the then PPP/C and later continued under APNU-AFC Government when it took office in 2015.
With some US$31 million from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the project was to have been completed within 24 months. The contractor is the Chinese Company, Sinohydro Co-operation Limited.
The project was however not completed. This was attributed to several reasons ranging from safety protocols being breached to the quality of work being done by several sub-contractors.
Many issues had to be dealt with among them persons who occupied sections of the road.
The project then resumed under the APNU-AFC Government. Then the 2020 March election came. This led to another delay. The new PPP/C Government came into power and the project resumed.
Minister Edghill bragged that the project will be finally be completed but the Government will need some additional funds to finish the project since the loan was spilled and went to the housing development under the APNU-AFC Government.
“The sums allocated for the Sheriff/Mandela Access Road have been utilized. We will need some extra money. That is a conversation that is being undertaken with the Ministry of Finance at the highest level.
“I and the Minster have been speaking about that so I cannot definitively say this afternoon if it will come from a loan or local sources,” Edghill explained.
He noted that since there were some changes to the variations of some parts of the old road. The cost of materials would have changed.
Mr. Edghill however pointed out that only under his watch did Guyanese get what they had paid for.
“Im satisfied that since I am the Minister of Public Works, I got what I paid for and what I am paying for.”
