Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 13, 2010 News
…Cabinet Secretary announces new $80M structure
A bridge that links Canal No.1 Polder and the expanding Parfait Harmonie Housing Scheme has disintegrated nine years after it was built at a cost of an estimated $30M. The government now intends to replace the bridge with a concrete structure.
It also plans to construct another access to the scheme with financing of $350 million that has already been committed.
Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali yesterday said that the “lifespan” of the bridge deteriorated rapidly because it was not designed for the volume of heavy traffic that crossed it in recent years. The bridge is the only access bridge to the scheme.
Ali said that the government spent $1.6 billion in infrastructure projects to develop the scheme and all the materials had to pass over the very bridge.
Added to this, he said, was the fact that the hundreds who have since moved into the scheme had their building materials transported across the bridge. He contended that the bridge had to withstand five times the volume of traffic during its lifespan.
Contrary to what was reported in another section of the media, Ali said that $80 million has not been allocated to build a new bridge. Ali said that the replacement of the wooden bridge with a concrete bridge is one of the emergency projects of the Central Planning and Housing Authority.
He said that the government has committed financing to the project, but he did not say how much.
“We’re now designing the new bridge. At the end of the design we’ll have the cost. Of course it would be a public tender, so that is where we are,” Ali said.
But at a press briefing, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon had announced that the new bridge would cost $80 million.
He pointed out that the design for the new bridge is expected to be completed by the end of next week, after which costing would be determined and a public tender process announced.
Many residents of the village have complained of the bridge being a death trap. As Kaieteur News photographed the structure yesterday, almost all the drivers shouted that the bridge needed to be replaced.
The complaints about the state of the bridge have been ongoing. Kaieteur News previously reported that persons have complained of their tyres being damaged, while some minibus operators have had cause to replace some of the planks.
Persons who reside in proximity to the bridge are finding it very annoying at nights, because as vehicles traverse the bridge, the loose planks cause them to wake out of their sleep.
They say that the bridge also endangers the lives of children, who use it on their way to and from school.
Parfait Harmonie Housing Scheme consists of four plantations running parallel to each other, namely La Parfait Harmonie, Westminster, Onderneeming and Recht-Door-Zee.
Another area connecting the scheme is Schoonord, where Minister Ali said an additional 600 house lots will be awarded shortly.
As the scheme expands, Ali said there is need for an alternative access road. This is also in the design stage, he said, but noted that the government has already committed financing to the tune of $350 million.
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