-more than year later Rupununi bridge still to be repaired
Another portion of road in Region Nine has washed away and Regional Chairman, Clarindo Lucas has advised that heavy vehicles from Georgetown not travel until it is fixed.
The portion washed away is at Mora Point, along the Georgetown-Lethem trail. It is about six miles away from the community of Aranaputa in the North Rupununi. Lucas said yesterday that Regional Executive Officer, Donald Gajraj has been dispatched to the area to ensure that work is done to rectify the situation. The Chairman stated that the portion affected is about five to six feet and he has been told that planks have been placed across the gap to allow people to pass.
In the interim, he stated, he has advised that heavy vehicles from Georgetown wait until the road is fixed. He said that he hopes that there will be a 24-hour work programme so that the work can be done quickly.
Meantime, he took issue with a letter and a subsequent report carried in this newspaper about a washed-away culvert at Mountain Point, also in the Rupununi. He said that the writer painted an incorrect picture of the situation. The Regional Chairman said that about 20 feet of the road had been washed away by a short but heavy downpour. This type of rainfall occurs at times and is dangerous, he stated.
Lucas related that work has started to fix the situation and there has been no stoppage of traffic. He had been assured, he stated, that the work would be finished not later than Sunday. The contractor who did the road is undertaking the repairs, he stated. According to the Chairman, the man is the only person in the region, who has the equipment to undertake this type of work. Asked whether the region has been monitoring the project, Lucas stated that the work has not yet been completed and handed over. Asked to confirm whether the contract is for the amount of $81M, Lucas, after being pressed several times, stated that he did not have the figures and did not have the tender documents in front of him.
He declared that the administration has been engaged in upgrading the road from Lethem to the Deep South Rupununi and to date, the work has progressed to as far as Shulinab. He could not say when the current project would be completed and noted that the contractor has not yet been paid.
The Regional Chairman blamed the “short but heavy rain” for the washing away of the roads, noting that it has happened before. On Tuesday, Toshao of Aishalton, located in the Deep South Rupununi, Chris James, who had travelled along the road over the weekend, told this newspaper that a culvert and a portion of the road around it had been washed away.
He stressed that the rest of the road was fine, except for that portion. He stated that the contractor, after installing the culvert, had simply scooped up the soil from the sides, built it up and laid on some laterite to make the road. Toshao James too noted that they had been using the same road and there was never any major problem before but now it is “just adding more misery to us”. What should have been done, he said, was the “bad spots” should have been fixed.
Meantime, asked for an update on the Rupununi Bridge, a portion of which had collapsed under the weight of an excavator last year, Lucas stated that the Ministry of Public Works had advised them not to touch it until further notice.
On May 27 last year, a 35-tonne excavator was proceeding across the structure but half-way across, the bridge caved in and the machine plunged into the waters, which was at a high level at the time. According to reports, the driver was fortunately washed out of the excavator’s cabin by the rushing water and he managed to swim to shore. Several days later, a bulldozer and another excavator managed to pull the fallen excavator out of the river. Apart from the middle of the bridge being broken, the beams from the western bank to the middle were also cracked. Since the mishap the bridge has been closed.
Lucas had previously told this newspaper that the plan is to build a “better, stronger bridge”. The broken bridge had been constructed at a cost of $16M. The Chairman of the region had said at the time, that work on the bridge had not yet started because they are awaiting funds to start construction for the improved bridge. More than a year later, it is not clear when the repairs will be done.
