Both ministers within the Public Infrastructure Ministry on Saturday ventured to Bagotville, on the West Bank of Demerara, to commission the new $109.4- million-dollar bridge linking La Grange to Bagotville, constructed after the original bridge began sinking in June 2017.
The new Bagotville Bridge
At the ceremony commissioning this new bridge, Minister David Patterson noted that Government saw the need to reconstruct the bridge to ensure greater efficiency and safety to its end users. He noted that after the bridge began sinking, an emergency task force was set up to assess the damage, while traffic had to be diverted through other communities.
“The contract to GAICO was done for $94.4 million, and we had a contract for In-Fab for some steel beams for $7.2 million and David Persaud (Investments Limited) for steel beams for $7.8 million.
The contract for the main work was signed on September 15, and work commenced on September 21; the original completion date would have been December 15, but due to hard work, we were able to complete the project a week before,” Minister Patterson said.
CEO of GAICO Construction, Komal Singh, said that after the bridge began sinking, he sought a discussion with Minister Patterson, who committed to addressing the issue immediately. He noted that, through the contract, they were able to employ 12 persons from the community, and six of those persons eventually became permanent employees with the company.
“We were fortunate to be given the opportunity, through the tendering process, to construct this bridge; and because of the critical (state) this bridge was in, we decided we needed to deliver as quickly as possible. As such, we worked long hours, but we worked smart. The old structure was used as a temporary platform, so we saved tremendous amounts of time to do temporary works. We worked early in the morning (to) late in the night, utilizing a two-shift system with set objectives we tried hard to achieve on a daily basis. We commenced on September 21, and we completed this project by the end of November,” Singh said.
Region Three Executive Officer Dennis Jaikarran said the new bridge is outfitted with rails and a pedestrian walkway –features that the old on lacked.
“The new features are important because we are moving in a new direction to ensure that safety comes first, and the bridge has indications that safety would have played an important part in allowing us to benefit from that bridge,” he noted.
Junior Public Infrastructure Minister Annette Ferguson has urged the residents to take care of the new bridge and use it with caution.
