Earnestly preparing to oversee the construction of another Dem. River Bridge

Dec 31, 2017 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

When it was built and completed during the Administration of Prime Minister Forbes Burnham back in 1978, the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) was designed to last, in its original form, for about a decade, and was aimed at vastly reducing the delays residents from the West Demerara had encountered using ferry boats belonging to the Transport and Harbours Department.
For a while after its opening on July 2, 1978, the T&HD vessels still ferried passengers and produce across the Demerara River, but these were eventually phased out and replaced by today’s fleet of small craft operating mostly a makeshift ramp aback of the Stabroek Market.
But as time went by, the pressure on the lone bridge that is made up of floating pontoons, a retractor span to allow ocean-going vessels to sail past unimpeded and an almost 70-foot high level span permitting smaller craft to head out to sea or sail inland, grew to such an extent that there is need today for a second one to complement the DHB.
So it is in this context that the governing Coalition is earnestly preparing to oversee the construction of a second bridge across the river to ease the notorious levels of daily frustration and delays that bridge users encounter.
Officials and engineers are still working to determine what the final designs will look like, whether it would be a fixed, permanent bridge, not requiring frequent openings to allow vessels to sail through, or one that would in fact be built with spans that would require daily openings and more frustrations for users.
It is in this context that Public Infrastructure Minister the Hon. David Patterson recently decided to meet with residents of Region Three to assure them that planning remains resolutely on course and that relief is forthcoming in the ensuing months. He did indicate that tenders for construction are already out and that a total of eleven contractors, many of them based overseas, are being shortlisted.
“We would like to do prudent financing, when we would have finished assessing in the next quarter or two and the contractors have arrived at a certain amount, we will know the extent of financing we will need, if any, on the part of the government and we will be going to approach the assembly for supplementary, that will be by June next year,” Minister Patterson told a public forum recently.
“The residents in Region Three know more than anyone else in this country why a new bridge is needed and not only a new bridge, you also know why new roads are needed. Even on a Saturday when school is out, there’s a traffic backup, so it’s a need which the government has heard, and we’re putting things in place.”
So far, engineers and experts have identified a link between Houston on the City side and Versailles across the river as the most economically suitable place to locate the bridge. Private lands and properties currently located in the identified areas will have to be acquired by mutual agreement between Government and the parties and access roads constructed to make way for the bridge. It will likely be just a bit shorter than the DHB, which according to official records, is 1.25 miles long.
Engineers have done a remarkable job to maintain and keep the DHB over the decades, but officials have stressed that maintenance costs are higher when structures like these are being propped up for the public good.
The minister says that officials hope to narrow the bidding field down to about three contractors who would provide proposals to fund it all by themselves or would do so in a public-private partnership with government.
Neighbouring Suriname to our east built two massive bridges across the Suriname and Corinie Administrative Districts in the late 1990s but the massive costs associated with their financing sparked such massive protests that the Jules Widjenbosch administration was forced to call general elections months ahead of schedule and was swept out of power as the economy tanked under the weight of financing of the two permanent, fixed bridges.

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Earnestly preparing to oversee the construction of another Dem. River Bridge

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