Citizens who traverse the Demerara Harbour Bridge will see some relief of the morning congestion by the end of the month as the company announced that it will restart night retractions.
According to a press release from GINA, General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC) Rawlston Adams indicated that the company has made the decision in a bid to “ease morning congestion at the bridge.”
The release said Adams explained that the company is currently in discussions with the captains of pilot boats and was examining schedules and tidal conditions to see how best night retractions can be reintroduced.
However, the night retractions will only be done to facilitate larger vessels and will not allow slow moving vessels, including barges, to pass. According to the release, Adams indicated that preparations are currently being undertaken for any necessary works for the re-launch.
“We had to reinstall some navigational lights that are on the West Coast of Demerara and in the sugar terminal compound there were some existing towers [without lights] so we installed the lights. We’ve installed the solar panels that would charge those lights,” Adams said.
He also pointed out that the lights had not been used over a period of time and overgrown vegetation had started to obstruct the line of vision, which should be cleared soon.
However, even with the reintroduction of the night retractions Adams said, the day retractions will not be abandoned, but the length of time would be reduced.
“Vessels cannot carry their maximum loads or even if they do, that that puts them at a risk in terms of them working against the tide because most time the tide would be falling and that means they will have to compensate by increasing their speed through the bridge. That can have impact on the bridge in terms of drag and we have had incidents where that has happened and it caused damage to the bridge,” Adams explained, pointing out that the night retractions are expected to start before the end of the month since meetings were already held with the staff of the company to inform and update them of the process.
Adams also indicated that the cost to maintain the bridge continues to increase because of the repetition of heavy loads crossing it. The corrosion of pontoons are also affecting the maintenance costs.
He pointed out that in the last seven years there has been a shortfall in maintenance and operation cost. “We’re only making $450 million and expending $847 million so the government through subvention has been making up that shortfall. Revenue is not adequate for the maintenance and this bridge does not have the ability to sustain itself,” Adams told GINA.
