$339M contract awarded to construct rip-rap sea defence at Mahaicony

Dec 21, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – The National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) has awarded M&B Construction a $339, 215, 400 to construct a rip-rap sea defence at Mahaicony between Essex and Concord.

When bids were opened for the project, Kaieteur News had reported that M&B Construction was among 10 Contractors who had applied for the Ministry of Public Works project estimated to cost $352,619,100.

Kaieteur News understands that the Contractor is contracted to construct 350 meters of rip-rap sea defence at Mahaicony between Essex and Concord. This publication was informed that it would be an elaborate rip-rap structure which would have berm (the flat strip of land bordering a river or canal).

During a visit to the area last month, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill had announced that works will continue aggressively since the area is being threatened by the sea, especially with the increasing high tides.

Rip-rap sea defence in the Mahaicony area. (Photo courtesy of Ministry of Public Works.)

Minister Edghill who noted the importance of preventative measures and interventions to preserve the mangroves had explained that “With the movement of mud, climate change, weather patterns and everything else, we are losing a significant number of mangroves in this section. Once the mangroves are removed, the dam that we are standing on becomes compromised, and once this dam is breached, the water is all the way in, whether at farmers, poultry farmers or households.”

He said that sea defence is an expensive venture, but his Ministry is committed to facilitating interventions.

“Based on the understanding that I have, we have already done six kilometres, from Dantzig, Mahaicony coming all the way back to Fairfield. As the work continues, we are now in the seven-kilometre zone. But we are not asking to do an entire kilometre right now. It will be just about 350-400 metres, and we will fill in the gaps as we go along,” he explained.

The Minister shared that climate change is affecting the sea defence but noted that Government will continue to put measures in place to ensure citizens living in close proximity to the sea are not severely impacted by these environmental changes.

This year, the Ministry was allocated some $5B from the National Budget for the construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance of rip-rap sea defence in the country.

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