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‘Show us the $1B bill to repair harbour bridge’
– Glenn Lall questions govt’s figures for Demerara Harbour Bridge works
Kaieteur News – The recent accident at the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) which resulted in the closure of the structure to vehicular traffic for three days saw the government reportedly spending $1 billion to conduct emergency repair works- a sum which transparency activists believe must be explained.
Kaieteur News Publisher, Mr. Glenn Lall
During his Friday evening radio programme aired on Kaieteur Radio (99.1 and 99.5 FM), Mr. Glenn Lall, the publisher of this newspaper and an advocate for transparency and good governance said that the administration must show how it expended the whopping sum to put the bridge back into operation over a mere three days. He told his viewers and listeners, “The government say them spend over $1 billion to repair it, that is US$5 million. When I heard that figure, I had to leave my office and drive over to the bridge to see if them replaced the damaged steel plates with gold plates.”
The newspaper publisher continued, “how can anyone justify spending $1 billion Guyana dollars in three days? What on God’s earth you can buy for that $1 billion? What work, what machines, what welding could have cost $1 billion in three days?”
Lall said he is curious to know whether government was forced to “fly in” parts for the bridge overnight which may have resulted in freight costs escalating the cost of repairs. He was keen to note that the astronomical sum that was used up in three days is equivalent to a seven percent salary increase for an entire year for all public servants in the country but “that is the kind of money the government wants us to believe they spent to patch up the bridge in three days,” the businessman explained.
The Demerara Harbour Bridge was badly damaged during the wee hours of October 8, when a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker, MV ‘Tradewinds Passion’, filled with fuel for the Guyana Oil Company Limited (GUYOIL) crashed into it. It was finally reopened to light vehicular traffic last Monday evening after the major repair works were conducted.
On Thursday last, Edghill made it clear, however, that monies are still being spent on the structure. He said, “…while everybody is saying that traffic is flowing and moving, they are still working miracles below (conducting repair works underneath the bridge), changing out pontoons and doing all kinds of things while still facilitating movement of people and goods to ensure that commerce is moving…It’s nowhere near finish.”
Edghill noted too that the bridge does not only have to be functional for vehicular traffic alone but also for marine traffic and in order for this to happen, the retraction must be working well. The Minister explained that marine traffic is important too because it ensures that fuel and other basic supplies enter the country. Nevertheless, he said, works have advanced significantly and this is because of the hard work the engineers have put in to make the bridge partially operable again.
He iterated, however, that owners of the vessel will have to foot the bill.
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