Another date of end of April has been given by Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell for motorists to start using the Woburn/Cliff Road which has suffered from several delays over the past year under a firm operated by Concord, St John businessman Nelson Louison.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said the expectation is that the road will start to accommodate traffic by the end of April and 100% completion by the end of May as the Contractor will be engaged in some other aspects of the work.
He explained that the promised end of December 2025 date that was previously given for completion of the road to allow traffic was delayed due to two main reasons, one being continued delays in the provision of the approved asphalt mix design from the contractor.
He also said that another factor that affected the work related to the placement of the backfill material and base course as this is “progressing at a suboptimal rate mainly due to the weather.”
The Cliff Project which was on the books of the former New National Party (NNP) government of Keith Mitchell was originally designed by Beston Consulting as part of the larger Western Main Road Project.
The project seeks to rehabilitate a section of the eastern main road linking Springs/Woodlands junction to the Cliff/Woburn Junction (0.6 km long).
The contract for the work was awarded to Louison’s CCCCI, and the supervision consultant is SAFED Inc.
The original contract amount was for $16,541,362.60 and the estimated cost to complete the project is $7,000,000.00.
According to Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell, progress on the project has been very slow due to several factors, most of which can be attributed to the contractor’s slow pace of work despite several interventions.
He also said that the payments to the Contractor and Consultant as per approved valuations are up to date at the time of closure of the financial year 2025.
However, one of the parties has been making public statements about thousands of dollars owed to his company by the government.
The Prime Minister also told reporters that payments to landowners for acquisition of their lands for the project will be completed in the second quarter of 2026.
“The relevant cadastral surveys have been completed and pending submission. Valuations of properties are yet to be done,” he said.
PM Dickon Mitchell also addressed the work being done on the Clozier Retaining Wall/Road Project in St John following the collapse of this critical rural road network.
He said the work which started in June 2025 has been significantly delayed due to “unforeseen ground conditions onsite”.
In the face of opposition criticisms, the Grenadian leader disclosed that Consultancy services of SAFED Inc. have been engaged, and additional design work is ongoing to have final designs prepared for the project to be completed.
In addition, he said that a topographical survey for the area has now been completed and that was the cause of the delay in the completion of the additional design works.
The original cost of the project was $249,171.01 but the revised estimate for the entire project has increased to $1,367,907.71.
The Prime Minister indicated that the cost variation includes additional retaining walls and stormwater drains and realignment of the roadway.
The revised design package was completed by SAFED in March 2026 and negotiations are being finalised by the government with the contractor who is expected to remobilise by next week.
The new date set for the completion of the Clozier project is June 2026.