By Johann Earle
The Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) Regional Democratic Council (RDC) is contemplating punitive measures against two contractors who botched the construction of a bridge at Suddie on the Essequibo Coast.
The problem was highlighted by a Stabroek News letter writer who complained about the sometimes impassable state of the bridge. Even though the basic structure of the bridge is there the loose material on top of it makes traversing by pedestrians messy and by vehicular traffic difficult.
Vice-Chairman of Region Two Vishnu Samaroo told this newspaper on Friday that the Region was taking action on the complaints and is working to get the problems with the bridge rectified. The Vice-Chairman didn’t name the contractors.
He said that the Works Department of the Region has commenced remedial work in this regard, noting that there were some delays with this because the Region’s front-end loader was out of service.
But he said that inspections were made of the bridge and work will be completed soon.
A visit last week by Stabroek News to the bridge in Suddie revealed an unfinished structure looking like an oversized kitty-litter box. The earth at the sides of the structure appeared loose and vulnerable to erosion, and it looked as though it was poised to fall back into the trench.
Nearby residents said that when it rains, the situation is worse and this is when vehicles get caught in the quagmire that forms on the bridge. Some vehicles even had to dump their load of sand or other material on the spot so as to be light enough to be towed from the bridge.
Further, as part of the works, the contractors had dug up the roads near to the bridge and this has resulted in large craters that one must encounter even after making it over the bridge.
“We had some problems with the first contractor,” Samaroo said. “When we awarded the contract, rice reaping was still on and that bridge was the only access for rice farmers. This delayed the contractor,” he said.
According to Samaroo, after the rice reaping was completed the rains came, and as a result the contractor couldn’t start the work.
He said that when the contractor eventually started the work, he ran into a lot of problems of his own making and wasn’t working at the required pace.
Samaroo said that the region through the regional tender board reviewed the contract and had it revoked, awarding it to a second contractor. This second contractor had had the second best tender for the construction of the bridge in the first instance of tendering.
The second contractor also experienced weather problems, said Samaroo.
He said that the contractor had backfilling material stockpiled for a long time and this led to it becoming rain soaked. “The second contractor tried his best to compact it but we have undertaken to put material on top of it,” said Samaroo.
He said that payments have been made to both contractors but the retention money is still owed and the Region will have to tap these funds to recover the costs.
Food vendor Orin Heyligar said that because of the bridge, people cannot come to collect the food that he prepares. He said that he now has to make deliveries to maintain his business.
He said that the people who decided to come for the food would have to use another road some distance away. “People don’t want to come because their vehicles getting stuck. A vehicle belonging to Beepat’s got stuck in the sand. The first contractor did nonsense,” Heyligar said.
A woman who lives in the nearby housing scheme struggled to keep her motorcycle upright as she negotiated the soft terrain of the bridge. She also bemoaned the state of the bridge which she has to traverse everyday.
Speaking to Stabroek News, Baliram Persaud, who wrote a letter on the issue to this newspaper on Tuesday, stated that hundreds of acres of rice land are located to the south of the bridge and that it is a major access point for the transport of paddy to the mills. For the rice farmers to divert to another route, their costs could severely increase, Persaud explained.
He said that the contractors excavated mud from the trench over which the bridge crosses so that they could “backfill” the foundation for the bridge’s construction, but this didn’t work resulting in the surface not being compact enough.
Persaud in his letter said: “From my own observation, the bridge is in danger of collapsing from the massive erosion surrounding it in the complete absence of revetment whatsoever. Taxpayers’ money is definitely going down the drain when two contractors together can’t make one bridge for proper use within the community”.
