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New Timehri carriageway 40% complete
B.K international slams GT&T for 18-month delay
By Rabindra Rooplall
Telephone cables and poles are still to be removed from the Timehri construction zone as Contracting firm B.K International
B.K International Project Manager, Lionel Kamdasammy
paves a three-kilometer roadway from the Timehri Police Station to the entrance of the airport, according to B.K International Project Manager, Lionel Kandasammy.
B.K International had previously lamented that Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) and Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) are responsible for the slow works on Lot 3 of the East Bank Demerara four-lane expansion project which stretches from Providence to Diamond.
On Friday, media operatives were given a tour of a construction zone in Timehri where GT&T has been accused of hampering the works for the past 18 months.
The company yesterday reiterated that the Public Works Ministry should ensure that the infrastructure for the utilities are removed immediately, to avoid damage, the inconveniencing of citizens and to ensure the completion of the work.
According to B.K International Project Manager, Lionel Kandasammy, the project was initiated some three years ago. This project deals with the construction of a new carriageway leading from the airport.
“This project is consistently delayed because of issues with the removal of utilities. For more than 18 months we have been stuck where we are at the construction site. We don’t seem to be going forward in any direction. As such, the company has no alternative but to raise the alarm since only 40 per cent of the project is completed.”
The project manager added, “This is as a result of the underground telephone cables not being removed by GT&T which is hampering the construction, in addition utility poles with overhead cables are on the carriageway and have not been removed, so whichever way we go we cannot proceed, we have done all we could have done in putting in the drains, the medians and whatever else is needed to be done.”
B.K International has been consistently writing the Ministry of Public Works, the project manager explained. More than 60 letters and other correspondence were sent to the Ministry reminding the agency of the issues pertaining to works being stymied.
“To hold the project back and have 60 percent incomplete for 18 months is a very worrying factor. Material costs have risen tremendously over the last year. In addition, human resources are up since we have skilled people in our employ.
“If we demobilize we don’t know if we can get them back and retain them, and the price tag has escalated tremendously. The security and materials placed on site if quantified would keep getting higher daily.” Noting that if the company demobilized, Kandasammy said, then the company has clauses and procedures in the contract on how matters should be resolved and as such, the company is following those procedures. “But 18 months is a long time to follow procedures.”
A utility pole stands at the centre of the site where the carriageway is supposed to be built to the entrance of the airport.
It was explained that GT&T has sent invoices to the company as recently as May 6 stating that another cable was damaged and that the repairs would cost $396,652.
“When they (GT&T) lay the cable there was no proper supervision and the As-built drawings—-which are the final drawings produced at the completion of a construction-— project says that cables are laid 30 to 36 inches below the surface.
“Then if machine operators dig down 20 inches and come in contact with cables then there is a big difference. Then there are occasions when cables are not laid where the As-built says it is,” another B.K employee noted.
The initial project to construct a new access road to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport was estimated to cost $764M. However, B.K International Inc. won the bid to construct the carriageway at a cost of $558M.
The project entailed that the road will see two additional lanes north to the existing road each separated by medians. There will also be a paved sidewalk with concrete drains. This project was supposed to run for 12 months.
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