Ogle-Eccles Highway planned two decades ago

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, on Thursday dismissed claims that the concept for the Ogle-to-Eccles highway originated under the former APNU+AFC administration, revealing documents to support the road was envisioned more than 20 years ago.

Speaking at his weekly press briefing at Freedom House, Dr Jagdeo said the initiative was first outlined in Guyana’s National Development Strategy, revised and published in 2000.

“A lot what you see now, we have been planning for a long time to get them done,” the General Secretary said, displaying a 2003 study that outlined the road alignment. “We have been looking at an alternative approach to Georgetown…you would see the alignment here mapped out in this study in 2003…twenty-two years ago,” he noted.

He accused the opposition of lacking innovation and relying on recycled ideas. “APNU has been putting our programmes into AI with a command to rewrite…it’s just old, worn stuff that we have spoken about for a long time in the past, and this is the poverty in policymaking in the opposition,” Dr Jagdeo said.

“A country can only develop if its policymakers have a long-term vision for the country, and they accomplish it by matching the resources they have to ensure they don’t damage public finances,” he continued.

Dr Jagdeo also said the bypass road was always part of a broader vision to create a secondary link to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

On Monday, President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali commissioned the US$133.8 million Ogle-Eccles highway, describing it as a “new corridor of opportunity.”

The 11.8-kilometre asphaltic road, stretching from Ogle on the East Coast of Demerara to Haags Bosch on the East Bank, is part of a major development push converting former sugarcane fields into a key urban link.

While it reduces travel time and eases congestion, President Ali said the corridor’s significance extends beyond commuting. It is expected to unlock tens of thousands of new housing lots and has already attracted five new hospitals, six internationally branded hotels, and over US$500 million in private investments. (DPI)