EBD residents eagerly await bypass road to Ogle

Residents and commuters along the East Bank Demerara (EBD) corridor are hopeful that the new bypass road from Eccles to Ogle will mitigate the day-to-day traffic congestion.

DPI ventured into the Eccles Housing Scheme where the road will terminate for the first phase of the project. There, residents reflected on the current traffic woes and gave their stamp of approval for the bypass road.

“It would ease the traffic to some great extent on the public roads and business, generally, would be in for a good amount of customer relationship… It would present a situation where goods and services would reach the community in a much speedier way,” said senior citizen Mr. Rudolph G. Venton.

Another resident, Mr. Julian Williams described the flagship project as a great idea for residents. Mr. Williams stated the road will be of immense service since it will reduce deterioration of Eccles’ internal roads, caused by heavily laden trucks.

For resident Mr. Clayton Roberts, the bypass road will service as an easy detour for commuters desirous of heading to the East Coast Demerara.

“Everybody is getting a car or two. So, [the East Bank Demerara] is developed with a lot of transportation, so it needs another outlet to move [the traffic] … You need the extra road,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Maynard Carmichael, a bus driver that plies the Georgetown to Eccles route, said the journey would take 45 minutes during rush hour, compared to 25 minutes at non-peak hours.

For him, the bypass road would eliminate unnecessary traffic build-up on the East Bank.

Back in September, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Hon. Deodat Indar told DPI that Government had redesigned the project to conform with the available funding.

The former Administration had planned to extend the road from Ogle to Diamond, resulting in an additional US$158 million being billed to taxpayers. At the time, the Minister said the connections at Mocha resulted in the major cost increase.

“For you to do those swamps, the cost of the earth works pushed up the cost to $208 million. Remember, the Indian Government only had $50 million allocated to this project. So, we had to redesign the project to bring it to the original design,” Minister Indar had explained.

Government has prioritised the project to bring relief to commuters. The Guyanese people have been assured that the road will be executed in phases and will extend further up the EBD to Timehri.

By Shaquille Bourne