Access to corn, soyabean plantation among $286M in road contracts signed

The Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday awarded two contracts totalling $286,714,200 aimed at improving access to farmlands and reducing the cost of production through the reduction of transportation costs.

The major contract, totalling $251,440,000 is for the construction of 25 kilometers of road at Tacama, Region 10 (Upper Demerara – Berbice) to provide access to over 30,000 acres of savannah lands.

During the simple signing ceremony at the Ministry’s boardroom, Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha said that the road will help to provide better access to the corn and soya cultivation project.

“That road will help us to have better access to the corn and soya project. We will increase cultivation from 125 acres last year that we cultivated to 3,500 acres this year,” Mustapha said.

The project was awarded to Associated Construction Services.

The second project, awarded in the sum of $35,274,200 to Reliance Incorporated, is for the construction of an access road to the Hope high-level drainage structure at Hope, Region Four (Demerara – Mahaica).

The construction of this road is expected to provide improved access to farmlands as well as provide benefits to residential homes in the area.

Following the construction of these roads, the respective localities are also expected to benefit from a reduced cost of production through the reduction of transportation costs that is expected with the construction of this road.

These contracts were awarded as part of some $605,094,510 in contracts that were awarded by the Ministry on Wednesday.

Mustapha urged the contractors to execute the projects in a timely manner.