Building a new Guyana as infrastructure transformation reshaping daily life
The transformation of infrastructure in Guyana is increasingly being reflected in the everyday lives of citizens, from shorter journeys to improved access between communities, regions and neighbouring countries.
Across the country, mud dams have been revamped to rigid pavement concrete roads and footpaths.
Deteriorated community roads have also been upgraded, while major highways, bridges and other transport networks are changing the way Guyanese commute daily.
Projects such as the Ogle-to-Eccles Road, Mandela-to-Eccles Highway, Eccles-to-Great Diamond Highway known as Heroes Highway and the Schoonord-to-Crane four-lane highway have significantly ease traffic congestion, improve connectivity and reduce travel times.
The benefits extend beyond motorists. Bus and taxi drivers, passengers, truck operators, students, farmers and businesses all depend heavily on the expanding network to move more efficiently.
Minister of Public Works Bishop Juan Edghill said the scale of the government’s infrastructure programme during the first year of its second term in office transcends what was imagined.
“We have been able to make interventions in each and every village, in each and every region. And I have said this before; we have delivered development without discrimination,” he said.
Perhaps one of the clearest examples of how the strategic buildout of the country’s infrastructure network is the new Bharrat Jagdeo River Bridge across the Demerara River.
For years, commuters travelling between Regions Three and Four faced lengthy queues, particularly during peak periods, with many leaving home hours earlier to avoid congestion.
The four-lane bridge has changed that experience, offering greater convenience and predictability for thousands of people travelling between the two regions.
Before its completion, Region Three resident Frank Watson described the project as an important development for commuters.
“The four-lane bridge is one of the best highways that [is] coming to this country because the harbour bridge right now affects a lot of people,” he said.
He said, “So, I think the best move is a four-lane bridge which has no retraction, so people can go back and forth as they like.”
University Student Cianna Johnson also pointed to the congestion experienced by commuters, saying travelling by boat had sometimes been easier.
For Simone Britton, a public servant from Zeelugt, the traffic situation had even influenced her decision on whether to purchase a vehicle.
“It will benefit us, the people of Region Three, a great lot because the congestion will get easier, and it will be easier to get to Georgetown and to get to work on time also. When the bridge come, I gon get my car and I will be driving straight to work,” Britton said.
Beyond transportation, the bridge has also taken on another role, becoming a space for recreation and exercise, with Guyanese using the structure for walking and running.
Minister Edghill said the impact of infrastructure should therefore not be measured solely by the cost or physical size of projects.
“Everything cannot be counted just in dollars and cents and kilometres of road or width of drains, but it’s how people’s lives are better, better drainage, better irrigation, better roads, better access. And for me, it’s the way we serve people,” he emphasised.
The Demerara River Bridge forms only one part of a wider infrastructure plan aimed at linking roads, bridges and ports into an integrated national transport network.
In the east, the Palmyra-to-Moleson Creek corridor is expected to eventually connect with the planned bridge across the Corentyne River between Guyana and Suriname.
The government is also advancing plans for a new four-lane bridge across the Berbice River, which would accommodate increasing traffic and support the movement of commercial goods.
“Now the Palmyra to Moleson Creek Road is to be linked to the bridge across the Corentyne River, which is to be built between Guyana and Suriname,” Minister Edghill explained.
He said, “So, you get over the Berbice River, not on a two-lane floating bridge, but on four lanes because of traffic volume… So, we have a whole connection.”
The same approach is taking shape further south.
From Linden, commuters and commercial traffic will be able to cross the new Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge before connecting to the Linden-Mabura Road and, eventually, travelling through Kurupukari and Lethem towards the Takutu River Bridge and Brazil.
Similar connections are being developed west of the Demerara River.
The new Demerara River Bridge is being integrated with the wider Region Three road network, including the planned Schoonord-to-Parika four-lane corridor and the modern port facility being developed at Parika.
A new Parika-to-Goshen Road is also expected to improve access for farmers and communities while providing a more direct connection to the port.
Meanwhile, the Timehri-Sand Hills Road is intended to create another route into Guyana’s interior, reducing dependence on river transport for moving people, vehicles and goods.
Together, these projects are intended to provide alternative routes, improve access to agricultural and commercial areas, and strengthen Guyana’s connections with neighbouring countries and the wider South American market.
As the road network expands, attention is also shifting towards another issue that directly affects communities, drainage.
“We have built out the roads. The next phase is concrete drains,” Minister Edghill said.
The programme is expected to complement road upgrades by improving the movement of water and reducing the risk of flooding in communities.
Small local contractors are playing a significant role in that effort, with more than 1,200 contractors engaged in drainage and related infrastructure works.
Before concrete drains are constructed, existing earthen drains are being cleared to ensure they can adequately carry water.
“You will see now, and people would have seen, trucks, dozens of people in the drains, taking out the silt, putting them in bags, putting them in the trucks, moving, cleaning out all of the garbage,” Minister Edghill said.
He was adamant that, “That’s the first wave, because while we are building the concrete drains, the earthen drains must be able to have the capacity to take off [the water], if not people are going to be flooded.”
As new roads, bridges, ports and drainage systems are connected, the government’s wider objective is to create a transport network in which individual projects no longer operate in isolation.
For the people using the various networks every day, the transformation is increasingly measured not only by what is being built, but by how those developments change the way they live, work and travel.
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