Students tour Jan De Nul’s artificial island project in Guyana

The artificial island at the Plantation Best foreshore, West Bank Demerara (WBD), is now connected to the coast by road and the first phase of the project is on track for a December 2023 startup.

The mega undertaking dubbed the ‘Port of Vreed-en-Hoop’ is the master plan of three local businessmen who moved to establish a multi-billion-dollar shore base port facility.

Earlier this week, students from the University of Guyana (UG) were able to tour the facility.

During the tour, students got hands-on exposure to the construction techniques being used to construct the artificial island and shore base at Vreed-en-Hoop. 

The construction team explained the project’s rigorous construction schedule, environmental compliance and answered questions about qualifications and experience needed to be part of this type of construction project.

The project has, at this point, advanced to where the facility is now connected by a road to the coastline and the pace of construction is continuing on a 24-hours basis.

The current shore base construction will see the first phase of 10 acres, made operational by December 2023, with additional acreage delivered by second quarter 2024.

The long-term vision of the project will eventually see the full Port of Vreed-en-Hoop completed with as much as 800 acres of port facilities.

Director of VEHSI (a joint venture between NRG Holdings Inc. and Jan De Nul), Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer has explained that “once fully realised the Port of Vreed-en-Hoop will tie into the country’s vision to expand Guyana’s development.”