Getting motorists to pay for repairs to damaged infrastructure difficult

Getting motorists to pay for repairs to damaged infrastructure difficult – MPI Official

Apr 09, 2017 News

The Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI) continues to experience headaches to

A streetlight and sign at Herstelling, East Bank Demerara that were damaged by a vehicle sometime back.

recover monies spent on repairing or replacing public property that was damaged by motorists.
Kester Hinds, Senior Project Engineer within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure with responsibility for maintenance, traffic and safety, told Kaieteur News yesterday that the Ministry is aware of the damaged infrastructure including streetlights and traffic lights on our roadways.
Hinds was at the time commenting on some of the damaged public infrastructure on the East Bank of Demerara.
He noted that the Ministry is in the process of conducting an estimate to carry out repairs in that area.
It is known that when perpetrators are charged, the Ministry assesses the damage and issues the perpetrator with a bill.
The person has the option to get his own contractor to effect the repairs or the Ministry will have the work done and then pass on the charges. If, however, the perpetrator is not caught, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure

The base of this streetlight at Providence has been hit so many times by drivers that it is now on the verge of falling over.

will have to stand all the expenses.
Hinds said, yesterday, that while the policy is for persons who damage public property to bear the cost of repair or replacement, it is sometimes difficult to recover payments since many usually flee the scene before any intervention by the authorities is made.
Hinds stated, also, that in some cases when drivers are indentified, they are often placed on a payment plan – in cases when they cannot afford to pay lump sum – and are often up to date on their first payments. However, after making two or three instalments, drivers tend not to return.
Quizzed on how much monies would have been spent to replace or repair public infrastructure that was damaged by vehicular accidents in 2016, Hinds said that he could not provide that information at the moment.
According to previous reports, the Ministry would have expended in excess of $30M to repair or replace public infrastructure that was damaged by ‘errant drivers’ back in 2015.

This leaning traffic light pole at the entrance of the Diamond Housing Scheme has been in this state for months after it was struck by a sand truck that was exiting the Scheme.

It was compared to a mere $65,000 recovered from those who did the damage. There were reportedly 51 accidents which resulted in damage to street light structures including the poles.
With respect to traffic light signals alone for that year, it cost the government $17.494M to repair damage caused by 24 accidents.
The policy to pass on the cost of repairs to the persons who damage public property was first introduced in Guyana under the PPP/C administration.
In August 2009, Government successfully piloted the Administration of Justice Bill which increased the penalties attached to the damaging of public or private property. In the extant legislation, the public property was only deemed to be roads and bridges, but with the amendments, it was extended to include items such as traffic lights, which have been a source of concern for many.

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