The beleaguered $300M Amelia’s Ward road works have been halted for more than a week now due to inclement weather, even as regional leaders prepare for a new inspection.
The construction of roads in Phase B of Amelia’s Ward, Mackenzie, Linden has been heavily criticised by Linden Interim Management Committee (IMC) Chairman Orin Gordon and Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon, who recently pointed to several defects and had called on the Ministry of Housing (MOH) and the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) to look into the situation.
A contract in the sum of $300M was awarded in three parts to two contractors. On Lots 1 and 3, Resat Contracting was contracted to do 3.2km and 3.3km of new roads, respectively, while Dalip Contracting was hired to do 3.4km of the roads. All of the works were to be completed by December 2011 but to date the works are about 80% complete. However, for more than a week work had ceased due the inclement weather conditions, according to one of the foremen.
Meanwhile, the local authorities have been seeking specifications of the works but to no avail.
Efforts to contact the contractors and Chief Executive Officer of CH&PA Myrna Pitt have proven futile. According to Gordon, he was reliably informed that the concerns were raised at a recent meeting of the MOH/CH&PA where the authorities had undertaken to follow-up the matter.
“What she means by that is what we are trying to find out,” said Gordon. He was concerned about not having any information on who are the engineers and the clerk of works for the project.
The roads, which according to the contract, were to be asphalted and sand sealed are all being done of substandard way, and in instances where there is asphalt the thin surface layer is easily removed by simply stepping on it. In addition, the sand-sealed areas have already developed pot holes.
Regional Chairman Solomon said that the concerns were raised at Thursday’s statutory meeting of the RDC and a decision was taken that a team, including RDC councillors, regional officials including the engineer and other key stakeholders, will be going on a site inspection soon to have a proper assessment done.
“We are not the experts though we can see that what is happening there is totally unacceptable so that is why we are taking in the engineer so we can have a solid report done and something proper to present to the CH&PA to call for an investigation from their level,” said Solomon.
