The Government expects to sign the contract for the new Berbice River Bridge before the end of this year, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill announced during an appearance on the Starting Point podcast today.
Edghill said the procurement process for the high-span, four-lane fixed bridge has advanced to an almost final stage, with a preferred bidder already selected.
“We have already gone out to tender. We already have the proposals. Those proposals have already been evaluated. There is a preferred bidder that has been identified, and there’s a negotiation team that is negotiating the final contract,” the Minister explained.
“I would expect that we should be able to get closure to those negotiations and the contract signed before the end of this year. So that’s going to be major for the Berbice area.”
The new structure will be a high-span, four-lane, fixed bridge across the Berbice River, designed to mirror the Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge in both capacity and modern standards.
It will replace the existing 1.57-kilometre floating steel Berbice River Bridge, which was constructed between 2006 and 2008 through a public–private partnership at a cost of about $8.2 billion.
Edghill stressed that the new Berbice River Bridge is not a stand-alone project, but the backbone of a wider transformation of the Palmyra and greater Berbice area.
“Linked to that bridge is the whole Palmyra development,” he noted, pointing to a package of projects that includes new housing schemes, a stadium, a deepwater harbour, a new gas pipeline landing, and a municipal airport.”
