Engineers at the Demerara Harbour Bridge yesterday facilitated and supervised a retraction to allow the movement of marine traffic and the authorities are aiming to complete emergency mechanical works by Thursday, General Manager Rawlston Adams told Stabroek News yesterday.
Adams told Stabroek News that during the retraction two vessels were able to leave Port Georgetown while two entered.
The General Manager said that the retraction was made possible after they lowered the temporary pontoon, which is in place to support the bridge. He noted that once the pontoon was lowered they were able to execute the retraction.
Adams related that they will like to complete mechanical work during the course of this week and facilitate normal retractions.
“We don’t want to have to be lowering the temporary pontoon every time we have to facilitate a retraction. The team is looking at the best possible solutions right now…” the General Manager related.
He said that there is not a definite decision as to whether the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC) will facilitate any retraction before Thursday.
Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill after a visit to the bridge on Friday informed that there were mechanical defects at two retractor spans and this will prevent the bridge from retracting to accommodate marine traffic.
Motorists are asked to strictly observe the speed limit on the bridge which is currently 20 mph. Alternative emergency arrangements for heavy vehicles are being contemplated by way of use of a barge.
The Minister of Public Works on Saturday convened a high-level team that included Minister of Home Affairs and former Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn; Jerry Max Goveia of Industrial Fabrications Int; Marcel Gaskin from Marcel Gaskin & Associates Ltd; Ret’d Specialist in Bridges and Designs, Joseph Holder; former Major of the Guyana Defence Force and former Design Engineer at the Ministry of Public Works, Bhageshwar Murli; DHB General Manager, Rawlston Adams and other engineers from the DHBC.
The high-level team will continue to conduct daily reviews and if needs be, twice daily, so as to ensure that the works to be done are completed in a timely manner taking into account the importance of this structure and its necessity to commuters, the Public Works Ministry said on Saturday.
Edghill on Friday explained that the current problems at the retractor spans were identified since 2016 and the former ministers who functioned in the APNU+AFC administration were made aware of the crisis. “I was extremely disappointed when I got there to learn that this problem was known since 2016 and it remains unresolved… this declared emergency is a matter that is pending since 2016 it speaks to (a) gross level of mismanagement and incompetence and neglect of Guyana’s physical infrastructure,” Edghill said.
He explained that in correspondence sent to David Patterson and Winston Jordan, former Ministers of Public Infrastructure and Finance respectively, Adams had informed them of the rapid deterioration of spans 9 and 10 and their rollers. He noted that prior to the bridge management implementing the new weight restrictions, the ministers were reminded of the bridge crisis that was identified during a presentation in 2016.
“… the damages that were done to the Demerara Harbour Bridge retractors, spans 9 and 10… five diamond panels were discovered damaged. These broken panels inclusive of the bottom rollers were also found deteriorated beyond repair on both spans and compromise the safety and structural integrity of the spans,” Edghill read from correspondence between Adams and then Minister Patterson.
