Berbice Bridge to be finished by end of October

Sep 03, 2008 News

By Rustom Seegopaul

The Berbice River Bridge is now expected to open sometime around the middle or end of October, approximately one month after the initial deadline for the opening of the structure. So says the Chairman of the Berbice Bridge Company Incorporated’s (BBCI) Technical Committee, Bert Carter.
The primary reason given for the setback of the Bridge’s completion is the delay of vital supplies and parts needed in the construction of the Retractor Span. Sources have explained that the parts which were en route to Guyana via the Europe West Indies Line (EWL) shipping line were returned to their point of origin in the United Kingdom after that particular shipping line declared bankruptcy on July 2, 2008.
Upon the return of these parts, the containers were apparently unpacked and then repacked and shipped using the European Caribbean Line (ECL) shipping entity. It is yet unclear as to when exactly the shipment will arrive here, but the new date of completion of the Bridge has been adjusted as a consequence.
Carter further noted that while the arrival of the parts had been delayed, it did not play a significant role to BBCI, in terms of cost, as the contract which had been awarded for the construction of the Bridge was a fixed price agreement.
Carter highlighted that while there had been some minor oversights in the construction, and several small changes were made to the original plans, all of these were anticipated and because of this, they had been budgeted for.
Over the weekend, additional work had been done on the Landing Spans of the Bridge, and now the Bridge is connected to both banks of the Berbice River.
Despite the delays in the completion of the Bridge, the Demerara Harbour Bridge’s General Manager Rawlston Adams, who is also overseeing the building of the access roads for the Berbice Bridge, has confirmed that the access roads leading up to and from the Berbice Bridge will “be finished by the time the Bridge is completed.”
According to the contract signed by DIPCON, the contracting company charged with building the access roads, time has been allocated until April of 2009 to complete the roads, with the necessary lighting and markings valued at US$8.7 million. Adams clarified that there were two different deadlines in the contract with DIPCON.
The first was an 18-month deadline, which stipulated that by then the asphalting of the road needed to be completed. Adams noted that by the looks of things, this deadline would be met. The second deadline was a 24-month deadline. By this deadline (in April 2009), the drainage, lighting and marking of the access roads needed to be finished.
The construction of access roads have displaced some 35 families, who had to relocated to facilitate works on the Western Bank, while on the Eastern Bank, persons were compensated for 87 strips of farmland.
According to sources, the Berbice Bridge will be handed over to the Government of Guyana 22 years after it has been opened. The bridge was built by a group of six private shareholders; however, the process of the construction of the bridge was facilitated by the Government.
The bridge will be privately owned for 21 years, and at the end of the 21st year, the Government will take ownership of the bridge, as the shareholders would have been expected to have recuperated their money by the end of this period of time.

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Berbice Bridge to be finished by end of October

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