Defects have been found in a 12 km stretch of the East Bank Berbice (EBB) road rehabilitated to the tune of $393.9M and the contractor has committed to rectifying the problems.
A release from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure yesterday said that the contractor for the road, H. Nauth and Sons, has committed to correcting all defective works before officially handing over the project to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI).
The contracting company had been hired to resurface 12 kilometers of the road between Everton and Mara.
The release said that at a review meeting held yesterday at the Ministry with David Patterson, Minister of Public Infrastructure and the Technical staff from the Works Services Group, the General Manager of H. Nauth and Sons, Jerry Loochan, informed the Minister that remedial works will begin on September 9, 2015.
According to the release, inspection work done on August 26 by the Ministry’s Internal Auditors found that sections of the road have a finished surface that did not meet the specifications. It said that debris was very visible in the wearing course which results in holes emerging on the road surface. Vegetation was also seen growing through the road and hairline cracks which clearly indicates that the base material still had soil.
The ministry release added that the compaction test on the thoroughfare will be re-evaluated by the Ministry’s laboratory. H. Nauth and Sons will also be executing some independent density tests.
To this end, the release said that a technical team from the Ministry will accompany the contractor to inspect all defects on the road with the aim of conducting a detailed assessment of the corrective works needed to bring the project within the contractual specifications and standards.
Work commenced in November 2014 and was completed in June.
The EBB road has been the source of much contentions. Over the years, residents have staged numerous protests calling for it to be reconstructed. The former PPP/C government had opted for limited remedial works.
