The CH&PA yesterday said that the assertion by Opposition leader Azruddin Mohamed that the proposed $121b Versailles to Parika Four-Lane Highway is “grossly overpriced” when compared with the $13.3b Eccles to Great Diamond Four-Lane Highway is “simplistic”.
In a statement yesterday, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) said that the figures being compared do not represent equivalent stages of project implementation.
It said that the $13.3 billion represents the contract value of the completed Region No. 4 highway, whereas the figure being cited for the Region No. 3 highway is an estimate as the project has not yet been awarded.
“More fundamentally, such a comparison fails to account for the substantial differences in the scale, physical quantities, engineering requirements, ground conditions and overall scope of works associated with the two projects. Comparing the headline values in isolation, without consideration of these material differences, therefore provides an incomplete and misleading representation of the relative costs of the two projects to the public”, the CH&PA said.
It stated that the Eccles to Great Diamond project in Region No. 4 comprised approximately 8.6 km of reinforced-concrete four-lane highway, whereas the Versailles to Parika project in Region No. 3 involves approximately 20.74 km of four-lane highway. The main highway component in Region No. 3 is therefore approximately 2.4 times the length of the Region No. 4 project. More importantly, however, the CH&PA said that the difference in scale cannot be measured by length alone.
“A particularly significant distinction is the preparation base width of the highway corridor, representing the area requiring preparation and sand filling prior to construction of the pavement structure. The Region No. 4 highway had a preparation base width of approximately 25.99 m, whereas the Region No. 3 highway requires a substantially wider preparation base of approximately 53.15 m. The Region No. 3 formation is therefore more than twice the width of that constructed in Region No. 4”, the CH&PA said.
When both length and preparation base width are considered, the difference becomes even more pronounced, the CH&PA said.
“Based on the respective project lengths and stated preparation widths, the Region No. 4 main highway represents an approximate preparation footprint of 223,500 m², while the Region No. 3 highway represents approximately 1,102,000 m². The preparation and sand-filling footprint for the Region No. 3 main highway is therefore approximately 4.9 times that of the Region No. 4 project. This has major implications for the quantities of sand filling, earthworks, compaction, ground preparation and associated construction activities required before the pavement itself is even constructed. Accordingly, comparing the projects solely on the basis of kilometres of completed carriageway materially understates the physical scale of the Region No. 3 undertaking”, the CH&PA posited.
Moreover, it said that the Region No. 3 project extends well beyond construction of the main carriageway and includes a significantly larger programme of ancillary and supporting infrastructure.
“One of the most significant differences relates to the construction and upgrading of access roads. The Eccles to Great Diamond project included approximately 0.8 km of road widening and asphaltic-concrete upgrading. By comparison, the Versailles to Parika project provides for approximately 68.02 km of access-road construction and associated upgrades. This represents approximately 85 times the stated length included under the Region No. 4 project. These works cannot reasonably be ignored when comparing the respective project costs, since they require additional earthworks, pavement construction, drainage interventions, materials, equipment and labour”, the CH&PA asserted.
There is also a substantial difference in bridge construction. The CH&PA said that the Region No. 4 project included 40 prestressed reinforced-concrete bridges, comprising 20-ft, 30-ft, 40-ft and 120-ft structures. The Region No. 3 project caters for 62 prestressed reinforced-concrete bridges, including 20-ft, 30-ft, 40-ft, 80-ft and 120-ft structures. More importantly, when the nominal bridge lengths are taken into account, the CH&PA said that the Region No. 4 project represents approximately 1,500 linear feet of bridge structures, compared with approximately 4,050 linear feet for Region No. 3. Therefore, the bridge component of the Region No. 3 project is approximately 2.7 times greater by nominal structural length, including 18 separate 120-ft bridges, compared with only two under the Region No. 4 project.
Although Region No. 4 contained a larger number of individual reinforced-concrete culverts, the specifications of those structures must also be considered.
“Based on the dimensions identified in the respective scopes, Region No. 4 incorporated approximately 486 linear metres of culvert structures, while Region No. 3 incorporates approximately 514 linear metres. Therefore, simply comparing the number of culverts—26 versus 16—would again give a misleading impression of the actual quantity of structural works involved. It should also be recognized that linear length alone does not determine culvert cost, since structural dimensions, reinforcement, foundations and site conditions are also relevant”, the CH&PA said.
The Versailles to Parika project also includes around 3.82 km of revetment works, a substantial construction component that does not form part of the identified scope of the Eccles to Great Diamond project. Revetment construction introduces additional requirements linked to erosion protection, embankment stabilization, geotechnical conditions, drainage and protection of the roadway and adjoining waterways.
Another fundamental difference between the two projects is the amount of ground improvement needed for the Region No. 3 project. The scope specifically covers the installation of Prefabricated Vertical Drains (PVDs) and associated conduit works along the main highway corridor, exemplifying the extensive ground-improvement steps necessary to facilitate construction across areas featuring weak and highly compressible coastal soils.
The Region No. 3 works entail more than 31,100 linear metres of PVD installation, extending to depths ranging from approximately 10 m to 18 m. No comparable PVD ground improvement component was pinpointed within the scope of the Region No. 4 project. This requirement must also be assessed alongside the substantially wider 53.15 m preparation base, since the Region No. 3 project needs extensive treatment and preparation of a considerably larger highway formation.
The CH&PA acknowledged that the Region No. 4 highway utilized reinforced-concrete pavement, while the Region No. 3 main carriageway is proposed as asphaltic-concrete pavement.
“Reinforced concrete pavement would generally have a higher initial pavement construction cost than a comparable asphaltic-concrete pavement. Region No. 4 also included approximately 9.4 km of reinforced-concrete median and 2.9 km of reinforced-concrete drains. These are legitimate differences and should form part of any balanced comparison. They do not, however, negate the vastly larger quantities of highway formation, sand filling, access roads, bridge structures, revetment and ground-improvement works contained within the Region No. 3 programme”, the CH&PA added.
It argued that a simplistic calculation based only on the length of the principal four-lane carriageway would produce approximately $1.55 billion per kilometre for Eccles to Great Diamond and approximately $5.21 billion per kilometre for Versailles to Parika.
“However, this comparison is inherently misleading because the approximately $108 billion for Region No. 3 does not purchase only 20.74 km of asphaltic-concrete highway. It finances an integrated infrastructure programme encompassing a main highway with a preparation and sand-filling footprint approximately 4.9 times that of the Region No. 4 highway, approximately 68.02 km of access-road construction and upgrading, 62 bridges, substantial culvert works, 3.82 km of revetment, extensive PVD ground improvement, and other associated highway infrastructure. Allocating the entire programme cost solely against the 20.74 km length of the main carriageway therefore artificially inflates the apparent `cost per kilometre’”, the CH&PA added.
It also pointed out that the Eccles to Great Diamond project was initiated in 2022 and completed in 2023, whereas the Versailles to Parika project is being implemented several years later.
“Construction prices should therefore be compared using contemporaneous rates for labour, fuel, sand, aggregates, cement, steel, bitumen, transportation, equipment and other construction inputs rather than treating a 2022 contract value as though it were directly equivalent to a 2026 project estimate”, the CH&PA contended.
Consequently, it said that the claim that the Versailles to Parika Highway is “overpriced” cannot reasonably be established merely by comparing its approximately $108 billion estimated programme value with the $13.3 billion cost of the Eccles to Great Diamond Highway.
In his video, Mohamed accused the government of presiding over a grossly inflated estimate for the proposed four-lane highway between Versailles and Parika and called for the procurement process to be halted.
The Opposition Leader said that the approximately 23-kilometre project had been divided into 17 lots with an estimated combined cost of around $121 billion.
“This is another highway robbery,” he declared, while alleging corruption and favouritism in the procurement process.
Mohamed said the estimated $121 billion represented close to eight per cent of the $1.558 trillion national budget for 2026.
The Opposition Leader devoted part of his presentation to the companies that submitted bids, alleging that several had political, family or business connections to senior government figures.
Mohamed further alleged that some contractors had begun stockpiling sand and crusher run before contracts were formally awarded.
“They were confident enough to spend money and mobilise and stockpile sand and crusher run before the awards were made,” he said. “They knew they were getting the work.”
He did not identify the locations of the stockpiles or present documentation demonstrating that the materials were intended for the Versailles–Parika project.
Mohamed also displayed what he described as a payslip for a security worker employed by a business associated with one of the bidders. He said the worker had received $68,723 for a month’s work while the company was seeking a contract worth several billion dollars.
“You can bid almost $5 billion for one piece of a highway, but the worker protecting your property receives $68,000 a month,” he said.
Mohamed also questioned whether a senior official of a state-owned company could devote sufficient attention to that entity while allegedly pursuing government construction work through a private business. The individual was not identified in this report.
“The same names keep appearing. The same circles keep benefiting. And the Guyanese taxpayers keep footing the bill,” Mohamed charged.
Mohamed said he would oppose the Versailles–Parika project proceeding at the estimated cost and called on the administration to suspend the procurement process.
“The Treasury of Guyana does not belong to the government, its friends, families or contractors,” he said.
Discussion