Dust from East Bank highway work affecting residents

Corrective work being done on sections of the East Bank Demerara four-lane highway is causing residents some discomfort as the dust keeps blowing into homes there.

Workmen were yesterday adjusting the height of the median on the four-lane highway in the vicinity of the Harbour Bridge and the Republic Park entrance. The men were employing the use of a power tool to cut the thick concrete slabs cast to serve as medians. As they worked, clouds of coarse dust could be observed rising and moving with the wind in a south-westerly direction.

Dental Technician Cobeer Persaud whose building is on the western side of the road said he was greatly affected by the amount of dust generated as a result of the ongoing work. “Was this thing cast without an engineer’s advice?” Persaud wondered since “now they have to cut it down.”

The dental technician mentioned too that the workmen found that the dust was also affecting them. Though they are protected to some extent by face masks the dust was still getting into their ears and eyes.

“I would be happy if someone from the ministry could investigate what went wrong… I doubt whether they would finish in time for world cup cricket.”

Walter Willis, Technical Advisor to the Minister of Transport and Hydraulics told Stabroek News that the contractors, Seereeram Brothers of Trinidad and Tobago were correcting a “bit of defective work,” hence the need for workmen to cut the median down by several inches.

Willis said this would not cost the Government of Guyana or the people of Guyana anything, as the contractor has to correct deficiencies in the work at its expense.

“Anytime the contractor goes outside of the specifications corrections are done at its costs,” he said.

The four-lane highway that commenced in Novem-ber, 2003 is being constructed at a cost of US$10.6M, under phase one of a US$16M project while phase two covers the construction of the West Bank Demerara road valued at US$5.4M, from Schoo-nord, (Demerara Harbour Bridge) to the Vreed-en-Hoop intersection.

The initial completion date for the highway was early 2005 but the contractor cited a number of factors which impeded it meeting the specified time including, inclement weather, late delivery of essential materials, equipment breakdown and a rise in fuel and cement prices.

An extension was granted to August 16, after which the contractor would have been liable to pay liquidated damages, which is a percentage of the contract for every day past August 16. (Christopher Yaw)