Latest update February 11th, 2025 2:15 PM
Latest News
- Govt. makes move to cancel CGX, Frontera Corentyne block license in 30 days
- ExxonMobil paying taxes in Bahamas but not a cent to Guyana
- Canadian company completes airstrip, roads to kick off 5.4M ounce gold project in Guyana
- Hamas threatens to postpone next hostage release, claiming Israel has broken terms of ceasefire deal
- Twelve-year-old girl missing for three weeks
New pontoon in place after six-hour operation at Demerara Harbour Bridge
Works on the Demerara Harbour Bridge are moving apace says the General Manager,
An overhead shot of the works being carried out yesterday at the Demerara Harbour Bridge. (Tagman Photo)
Rawlston Adams.
Adams facilitated a media tour yesterday to allow media operatives to get an up-close view of the project which entails the replacement of an 18-year-old pontoon that supports the bridge, with a new one.
This phase is part of a $109M project to replace pontoons at the link.
Yesterday’s exercise resulted in the link being closed off to both vehicular and marine traffic for six hours.
Despite the early downpour with occasional showers during the first hours of the exercise, the bridge was reopened to vehicular traffic at promptly 14:00hrs – as was promised by the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC).
This was conveyed to Kaieteur News after the DHBC was contacted.
Under “normal circumstances” the old pontoon would have been taken out and replaced by a temporary one without affecting the flow of marine and vehicular traffic.
However, due to the location of the pontoon and purpose, alternative arrangements had to be made.
The pontoon that had to be changed, houses all the winches, the hydraulic pipes that facilitate the retraction of the bridge.
On Friday, works began to disassemble the hydraulic pipes and remove the winches from the old pontoon. A temporary pontoon was set in place adjacent to the old pontoon.
The old pontoon that was removed.
Yesterday, the old pontoon was flooded to allow the object to drop to the desired level, and was subsequently removed. The temporary pontoon served as a substitute until the new pontoon – already equipped with the necessary jigs – was set in place.
The winches were lowered onto the new pontoon and bolted down.
Workers also began to reassemble the hydraulic pipes and other components on the structure. This aspect of the project will continue today without affecting the flow of vehicular traffic.
After the reassembling of all the components including the winches and hydraulic pipes, the temporary pontoon will be removed today. Testing will be done late today and tomorrow.
During the entire process, the bridge will continue to be closed to marine traffic.
Discussion would have already been held with marine companies and shipping agents months ago informing them about the works. These mariners, Adams said, would have adjusted their vessel schedule to facilitate the operation.
Planning for this project started since 2014, when two large pontoons were fabricated at a cost of over $93M.
The DHBC has also hired a “special” contractor, Industrial Fabrications (INFAB) to carry out specific aspects of the project.
Adams said that INFAB – formerly Industrial Engineering Limited (IEL) – was responsible
The winch being lowered on the new pontoon that was installed yesterday.
for the installation of the winches under the bridge’s rehab programme.
The company also has all of the schematics, since they would have installed the pontoon that was replaced.
“So management thought it wise to rehire INFAB at the cost of just about $16M.” Adams said during a media engagement a little over a week ago.
Adams, yesterday, lauded his crew for their commitment and noted that everything was moving according to schedule.
The GM was constantly looking at his wristwatch and would from time to time, inform his crew whether they were behind or on schedule.
Works yesterday morning began at around 6am where the team began mobilising.
“The hardest part was to get the pontoon out and the pontoon is out now and we accomplished that at around 10 am (yesterday),” Adams told media operatives.
The GM said that the DHBC is documenting every step of the way using a videoing team.
“So we can definitely be able to go back to the drawing table, look at all those details, and look at what happened. This will help us with our future planning and see how best we can reduce the time for future projects of this kind,” he said.
More than 30 persons took part in the project yesterday.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Are we better off today than we were before first oil?
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News-If you had asked me ten years ago what I wanted for Guyana, I would have said a few things:... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
