Latest update January 1st, 2025 1:00 AM
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One year later…Works still to start on $80M La Parfaite Harmonie bridge
Over one year ago, Dr. Roger Luncheon, Head of the Presidential Secretariat,
These concrete slabs have been lying here for months with no work being done.
announced that Cabinet had given its ‘no objection’ to the execution of emergency works of the main access bridge at La Parfaite Harmonie Housing Scheme, West Bank Demerara, but to date no work had started on the structure.
It is yet unclear who the contractor is as there are no signs erected notifying the public of impending work.
The $80M contract was expected to see the transformation of the deplorable timber bridge linking the Canal No.1 Polder main road and the housing scheme, into a concrete structure.
According to a government release dated October 13, 2010, Housing Minister, Irfaan Ali, is quoted as saying that the current timber structure was constructed in 2000 at a cost of approximately $25M and given a lifespan of 10 years.
He also noted that the greenheart timber bridge, when constructed in 2000, was not designed to accommodate the current level of construction traffic traversing on a daily basis. This traffic, he said, is primarily due to the high level of investment, approximately $3B in infrastructural development over the past years.
Ali promised that a new concrete structure will be constructed within four months and would have a life expectancy of 30 years.
However, almost a year later, that has not happened.
Kaieteur News tried a number of times to make contact with the Minister. He answered his cell phone but said he was busy. The newspaper was also unable to access him at his office.
For several months now, construction materials are lying in a camp area, a few metres from the bridge.
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