The sod was turned on Tuesday to begin construction of the Vreed-En-Hoop Shore Base facility by NRG Holdings Inc. The historic sod-turning ceremony at the project site, Plantation Best, West Bank Demerara (WBD).
Those in attendance were Directors of NRG Holdings Inc., Azruddin Mohamed joined by his father, Mr Nazar ‘Shell’ Mohamed, Andron Alphonso, Nicholas Boyer and Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat among others.
The sod-turning exercise which took place signals the commencement of the construction of a US $300 million facility for ExxonMobil.
In fact, several vessels are already in Guyana’s waters to commence the first phase of the project with a December 2023 deadline for completion.
One of the main vessels – Zheng He- will facilitate the deepening, widening and dredging of the access channel, as well as land reclamation. It also includes an offshore terminal, dry dock facility and fabrication yard spanning 65 hectares.
Once the first phase is completed, the second phase which involves deepening the dredging of the access canal and expanding reclamation will come on stream. Both projects are expected to be completed by 2024.
This project is Guyana’s first multi-purpose port facility and it is a joint venture between a fully-owned Guyanese consortium – NRG Holdings Incorporated, and Jan De Nul Group, a Belgium-based company that specialises in offshore, marine, civil, environment and project development.
The consortium includes Hadi World Inc, owned by businessmen Nazar “Shell” Mohamed and Azruddin Mohamed, Nicholas Boyer of National Hardware Guyana Limited and Andron Alphonso of ZRN Investments Inc.