The government has strengthened technical oversight, international engineering supervision and continuous quality testing to manage the unprecedented scale of infrastructure development underway countrywide.
Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill said these systems are in place to ensure the rapid expansion does not come at the expense of quality, accountability or value for money.
At the centre of that oversight is the ministry’s Work Services Group (WSG), a specialised unit comprising engineers and other technical professionals responsible for managing projects across the country.
“Well, this is where I will have to sing the praises of our team here at the Ministry of Public Works. The Work Services Group is a specialised team of engineers and professionals. We have our own Designs Department, which designs a lot of these projects,” he said.
The ministry also operates its own laboratory to test construction materials and monitor quality, while its Audit Department includes engineers who conduct technical assessments of ongoing works.
“This is not just checking numbers. This is engineers going out and testing and ensuring that we are getting quality,” the minister explained.
However, the minister acknowledged that the significant increase in construction has not been without challenges, but said the ministry has continued to strengthen its project-management capacity.
For major infrastructure projects, the ministry has supplemented its internal capacity with international engineering consultants operating under FIDIC standards.
It provides an additional layer of independent technical supervision and helps ensure projects are delivered to international standards.
“For example, when we were building the Demerara River Bridge, we had an Italian consultant, Polytechnica. That same FIDIC engineering consultancy’s firm is supervising the Linden Wismar- Mackenzie Bridge.
We are building the Linden-Soesdyke Highway, we have an international consultancy firm that is on that,” the minister highlighted.
Similar arrangements are in place for the Soesdyke-Linden Highway rehabilitation, the Good Success-Timehri Road project, the East Coast Demerara Road corridor and the Ogle-Eccles Road.
“This is what happens around the world in any major project,” he said.
Minister Edghill said maintaining quality requires constant monitoring, beginning long before a road or bridge is completed.
He said scrutiny begins with the materials selected for construction and continues through their application and the assessment of the finished infrastructure.
“Engineering is a science. And some people believe that engineering is just mixing concrete and pouring it. It’s a science. We are building resilient infrastructure,” he said.
The combination of the ministry’s engineers, laboratory testing, technical audits and external consultants, he said, provides multiple layers of oversight as development continues across Guyana.