The defunct Rupununi River Bridge at Katoonarib will benefit from a $26 million upgrade – a sum that represents 162% of the cost to build it—almost four years after a section of the structure caved-in under the weight of an excavator.
“The contract is intended to take care of design upgrade in building so we don’t have a recurrence of what happened [in 2008],” Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn, told Stabroek News. Lethem construction company, Dalip Enterprises has won the $26 million contract for the work, Benn said. In 2008, then chairman of Region Nine, Clarindo Lucas, had told Stabroek News that the wood and concrete structure cost $16 million to build.
The bridge was newly built when a section collapsed under the weight of an excavator that was heading to a