-by NaAsia Bristol

Residents of South Georgetown are celebrating the completion and opening of the four-lane Aubrey Barker Road.

The newly competed Aubrey Barker roadway links Mandela to the Ogle access road, giving commuters from the East Coast and Berbice a faster route to the East Bank without entering the city. Residents say the transformation is already changing lives and opening new opportunities.

Desmond Williams expressed that this new road signals the progress unfolding in Georgetown. he said, “This transformation will bring a great deal of progress for the community because most of the persons in the community property value will automatically increase persons are finding more ways and means to develop their property more so to tap into the oil and gas.”

Lady Ira Tile has been living in the area for 40 years, so she is especially pleased about this development.

“I’ve been living in south for 40 years so I know it before and now. So I’m very much elated to see what’s taking place here through this present government,” she noted.

Lesilie Black said, “I know this highway here a long way and I know here as a jungle. So im very much impressed when I came here two nights ago. This will be good for our children incoming and grandchildren that we can see some progress done.”

Once considered underdeveloped, the area is now seeing rapid change, with improved infrastructure enhancing mobility, increasing property value, and making access to key locations like the Eugene F. Correia International Airport far easier.

This was noted by Nicole Cole, who pointed out, “The transformation augurs well for the ability to get to the Ogle Airport without having to go all the way round the Heroes Highway or going through Tucville into Sophia to drive again then to catch that. So it is good development.”

Reflecting on the state of the infrastructure when he was a child, Linden Jemmott is amazed by the transformation.

“I can remember first it use to be a dam we use to come here as little children. I learn to swim right at the blacker here. And to see that its looking like another country now. Like another developed first world country.” Jemmott said.

Clairmonte Gittens also commended the ease of accessibility the road now brings. “It’s something beautiful and it was long overdue for Aubrey Barker road. So if I coming from airport and I going to Berbice me aint got to go round Sheriff street anymore or Rupert Craig, I just burst through by Heroes Highway and head up to Berbice.”

The Aubrey Barker Road is expected to significantly improve connectivity while driving development across South Georgetown and beyond.