Following complaints to the Ministry of Public Works about holes in a road at Enmore, East Coast Demerara, Minister within the Ministry Deodat Indar visited the area where he discovered that the road was not completed to the required standard.
Indar said that his visit followed complaints by residents of Enmore about the road, commonly known as Logwood Road. He explained to this newspaper during a telephone interview that the road underwent works by a contractor (name not provided), who did not mobilize for the type of road that was to be built. The road is part double bituminous surface treatment (DBST) concrete and part asphaltic concrete, Indar said.
Further, he explained that the road was completed to a point of being asphaltic concrete but the contractor awarded the contract did not mobilize for the asphalt road. For this reason, the residents have noticed small holes in the road and made complaints to the ministry.
Indar said that having visited the road and observing the reason for the complaints, he has since contacted the contractor and informed him of the aforementioned issue. He said that the ministry will now review and re-tender a contract for the construction of the road. He added that the road was the only road in the area that had issues and assured that the other roads were completed with no issues.
The government’s infrastructure programme is under close scrutiny as concerns have been expressed about major expenditure but without local contractors having the capacity to execute all of the works. Last month, the Ministry of Public Works instructed contractor Mohamed Fawaz Bacchus Construction and Transportation to remedy defects that were observed at a Tuschen, West Bank Essequibo road just months after it was constructed. The ministry, in a press release, had apologized to commuters and assured that the road would be remedied as the defects were within the contractor’s one year defects liability period under the contract.
