Local Gov’t Minister admits substandard work done at Moruca

Minister of Local Government Ganga Persaud yesterday acknowledged that substandard work was done on the approach to a $43 million bridge at Moruca and said that as soon as there is fair weather, the ministry expects that the work will be completed.

The bridge itself, he said, was completed but not without issues as the ministry had to be behind the contractor to complete the work and it took a long time.

The Alliance For Change (AFC) last week highlighted the state of the approach and said that the $43 million bridge has been disastrously done and the contractor has abandoned the work. The AFC said that its parliamentarian Valerie Garrido-Lowe and other members visited Moruca on December 31, 2013. Garrido-Lowe had earlier asked a question about the bridge in Parliament and had been given an assurance that it would be completed.

“…The revetment was not completed at all. Instead, red mud and a long pool of water was the result of the work the contractor had done. Persons who had to do business on either side of the Kumaka Bridge were forced to walk through this thigh-high, muddy water fetching their shopping bags, or, in the case of