Harbour Bridge repairs attract $600M

Oct 16, 2008 News

President Bharrat Jagdeo has announced that more than $600 million in repairs will soon be executed at the Demerara Harbour Bridge, which has been experiencing some difficulties over the past few months.

The President recently expressed shock over the state of the bridge, as he had noted that “it’s unbelievable, almost criminal,” when he actually visited the bridge and saw the extent of deterioration.

When questioned about the issue yesterday at a press conference held at State House, President Jagdeo noted that there are those who say that

“I should not say anything and then one time, they hold me responsible for things, and then other times, they say, I shouldn’t micro manage. So in this case, I shouldn’t even be expressing concerns about the Harbour Bridge.

“But you let it collapse tomorrow, there’re going to say, ‘What Jagdeo is doing…he is sleeping’.”

An assessment was done on the bridge on Friday last, and it was found that there was an issue with the traditional method of attaching the decking materials to the “I” beams at the bottom of the bridge.

It was explained that if the attachment continues to be done in the traditional way, then there would be constant breakage at the bridge.

Jagdeo said that some of the materials have already been sourced and repairs will soon commence.

In a recent interview with the National Communications Network (NCN), the President had expressed anger that the bridge was allowed to deteriorate to such a deplorable level.

According to him, he had checked on the bridge after receiving information about the state of the structure linking the western and eastern banks of the Demerara River.

Jagdeo had also expressed his concern over the management of the bridge, as he had noted that they had allowed the structure to reach the state it is now.

Yesterday, Works Minister Robeson Benn, said that most of the damage is caused by the trucks that cross the bridge. Trucks account for 5.8 per cent of the bridge traffic and pay $3.9 million per month.

Total revenue collection by the bridge is $23.4 million per month. Rates were hiked recently for cars and sports utility vehicles plying the bridge, boosting monthly revenue from $18.8 million.