By: Marvin Cato | HGP Nightly News |
President Irfaan Ali on Sunday convened an emergency meeting with senior officials from the Ministry of Public Works, the Guyana Police Force, the Coast Guard, and representatives of China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and Shelita Associates Inc., the U.S.-based consultant, following mounting frustration over severe traffic congestion caused by ongoing road works along the East Bank corridor.
According to a release from the Department of Public Information (DPI), the President was visibly angered by the slow pace of work and the “tremendous hardship” being endured by commuters, many of whom have faced hours-long delays and even missed flights at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) due to gridlock.
“It is clear to me that enough effort is not being placed in contract management and the workflow plan,” President Ali said, warning that he would no longer tolerate poor project oversight, delays, or indifference to public suffering.
The President directed that a daily work plan be shared with the traffic management team and ordered that any area opened overnight must be ready for use by morning. He also instructed Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken to establish a permanent control base along the corridor using containerized command posts supported by 24-hour drone surveillance to monitor traffic and detect violations.
In addition, President Ali ordered the relocation of the control room closer to the construction site and demanded a revised work schedule detailing how additional manpower and machinery would be immediately deployed to expedite progress.
“I was there at 1:00 a.m. and again at 2:30 a.m.—hardly anyone was working,” the President stated. “For this project to be completed with less disruption to commuters, you must increase your workforce, machinery, and work through the night.”
In a strongly worded directive, President Ali also instructed the Guyana Coast Guard and the Police Marine Unit to be on standby to ferry airline passengers to the CJIA if traffic conditions worsen further.
The Head of State warned that penalties will be imposed on any contractors, consultants, or engineers who fail to meet expectations, signaling a zero-tolerance approach to inefficiency and public inconvenience.
