Expansion of Sheriff Street, Mandela Avenue imminent

-    “Final” concept plan in consultation stage

The concept plan for the design of the Sheriff Street and Mandela Avenue expansion features four-lane, sidewalks, new street lights, bus stops, and parking lanes. The concept plan is not final and is subject to change to accommodate the final design. This was disclosed yesterday by Rabindranauth Chanderpal, Engineer of the Public Works Ministry, at a public consultation held at the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School. The consultation was informal and allowed citizens to observe the plan on display and interact with the contractor and engineers. According to Kim Julio, Project Coordinator of Exp of Canada is working in collaboration with SEMCO of Guyana, and the concept plan has been developed with the Work Services Group of the Ministry. Comments and recommendations made by citizens during the consultation phase will influence the final design of the plan, he said. Julio noted that the plan on display is the eighth of a series of plans that were developed. “At each stage we made changes… whether breaks in median, we put in sidewalks or took them away or put in parking space. We take into consideration bus stops,” he added. While the plan displays Mandela Avenue to have four lanes, Julio noted that Sheriff Street would only have two lanes. The structure would comprise a low median that could accommodate persons waiting to cross the road. Because of space constraints, the drainage would be under the sidewalk and parallel parking spots would be available, he said. According to Chanderpal, the concept plan for the Sheriff Street and Mandela Avenue expansion was developed from a previous plan done by Mott MacDonald. He noted that the original project for Sheriff Street envisaged repairs of the roadway that was starting to show signs of deterioration. However, from that consultancy it was discovered that the road corridor needed more substantial works. “The road was just pure chaos. This plan is a much more improved project and takes the form of urban transformation instead of being a road project, he said. The first plan was valued at US$300,000 and the Ministry is now paying about US$440,000 for this new plan/design. According to Chanderpal, “This is not the only consultation. We had targeted meetings. We met with large businesses on Sheriff Street, large businesses on Mandela Avenue, and civil society groups.”