Guyana is now equipped with the “most modern” asphalt plant in the region, which costs in excess of G$488 million, but will aid in producing top quality material, primarily used for road construction.
The parts for the plant arrived in Guyana on Monday from Germany and are to be assembled soon at the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC), Garden of Eden branch, East Bank Demerara.
It is expected to reduce costs in the construction of asphalt concrete roads in the near future.
General Manager of the DHBC Rawlston Adams explained more in a brief telephone interview with this publication on Tuesday. According to him, “It will enable us to produce much more asphalt at a better quality than we are producing right now, because the plant that we are using is “mix” plant; this plant is a patch mix plant at a 160 tonnes per hour”.
Once assembled, this plant will be the largest in the country and most modern in the region. With these qualities, the plant will be able to not only supply local needs, but international ones as well.
In a statement, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MoPI) said that the design for the installation of the plant and overall construction will go out to tender shortly. Furthermore, it informed that the full installation of the asphalt structure should be completed by the end of September.
During a visit to the Demerara Shipping Wharf on Monday, Subject Minister David Patterson inspected the parts of the plant where he explained that the decision to purchase a new plant was made since 2016. According to him, it will allow the Ministry to do “better and bigger things”.
The new asphalt plant was procured through public tender during 2018 by the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation, signalling an increase in operations and growth in demand.
The new asphalt plant will have the power and capability to produce approximately 160 tonnes of asphalt per hour – almost four times faster than the current asphalt plant.
Initially, the plant was expected to be in Guyana by February.
As an infrastructural investment, this plant is expected to provide efficiency in the continuity of supply of materials to the Ministry in the execution of road construction and rehabilitation, without compromising quality or price, as the DHBC remains the cheapest asphalt concrete-producing company in Guyana.
Further, as the product of a top brand worldwide, the new plant is expected to meet all required environmental standards regarding air and noise emissions.
