APNU calls for “warranty” of new roads, govt says there is “design life”

Last Updated on Saturday, 21 March 2026, 15:12 by Writer

Amid concerns by the opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) about the quality and duration of major road works, public works minister Juan Edghill on Saturday said the average lifespan of major roads and highways being built across Guyana is 15 years.

PNCR Leader Aubrey Norton categorically called on the ruling PPP government to state the “warranty” for the 45-mile Soesdyke-Linden Highway currently being reconstructed at a cost of US$161 million by the Trinidad-headquartered Namalco Construction Services and the local company, GuyAmerica Construction Inc.

However, Mr Norton questioned the quality of work being done.

“They need to tell us what is the warranty on the suits like Linden Highway because when you’re going up, you see the scraping off the top, not doing a proper foundation, and then they put the bitumen over it. When there were problems at the foundation, you don’t have to be an engineer to know that they are doing nonsense,” he said. 

APNU parliamentarian, Saiku Andrews told a weekend news conference that the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, which was completed in 1968 under the then PNC-led government, had a 20-year warranty. Similarly, he said all roads should have a “warranty”.

“Anyone can build a road and return to fix the flaws, but efficient infrastructure development must mean the delivery of quality work and not work that must be redone shortly after completion. There should be road lifetime warranty written into the contracts,” Mr Andrews added.

While APNU called on the government to disclose the “warranty” for the roads and highways, a civil engineer, who is familiar with the reconstruction of the highway, said there is no “guarantee”.

“Contracts for road construction are not written in that manner,” he said.

Instead, he said there is a one-year defects liability period after the road is finished and a design life report, in this case estimated to be 30 years, taking into account current traffic flow and weight of vehicles including heavy trucks. “That would be part of the design report for the years for which a road has been designed; that’s the design life for the road,” he said.

Demerara Waves Online News was reliably informed that the 30-year period could shorten due to the increased number of heavy duty vehicles that would be traversing the highway.

In order to achieve the design life, an expert said the load on the road would have to be maintained at the desired level over any given period.

Mr Norton was also concerned that the East Bank Demerara public road was being transformed into a four-lane road but the Soesdyke-Linden Highway would remain a two-way thoroughfare even after it is rebuilt.

But the public works minister said the government decided to retain that highway as two lanes based on studies that included traffic forecasts.

“The highway doesn’t have in the short-term or medium term that amount of traffic that require four lanes there,” he said.

He said the East Bank Demerara had more traffic than the highway would.

He said specific sections of that highway had been widened to allow for emergency parking.

Repeated concerns had been raised about the deterioration of sections of the Heroes Highway which is less than five years old.

The government recently advertised for the award of contracts to cap that concrete highway with bitumen.