Demerara Harbour Bridge to be closed for 6 hours next Saturday

The management of the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation has announced that the bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic for a period of six hours on Saturday, July 25, from 22:00h (10 pm) to Sunday, July 26, at 04:00h (4 am). According to the notice, this is to facilitate scheduled maintenance works.

An average of 10,000 vehicles traverse the crossing daily which was initially designed to last for 20 years. However, the bridge has outlasted its lifespan by more than 20 years. Since 2013, the then Government had expressed the intention to construct a new Demerara River crossing as was stated during the National Budget presentation. According to that proposal, that bridge would have had four lanes, a pedestrian walkway along with a bicycle lane. Additionally, it was proposed to have navigational aids to avoid marine traffic from colliding with the structure. However, following a change of Government in 2015, the project descended into limbo. The APNU/AFC firstly downscaled the design which saw a proposal for the bridge to be three lanes with a moveable section for marine traffic.
However, the contract for the feasibility study was sole-sourced by the APNU/AFC Government which led to much controversy. This led to a probe into the awarding for the $148 million contract to Dutch company LievenseCSO. The probe found that several companies had bid for the project to do the feasibility study and design for the new Demerara River bridge and 12 companies had been shortlisted. The report had added that only two of the 12 companies had made proposals. As such, the bidding process was annulled. It added that on November 12, 2016, the Tender Administration Board approved the move for the project to be re-tendered. The project was not re-tendered; instead, Dutch company LievenseCSO was engaged by the Public Infrastructure Ministry to do the work. The report also noted that the bid from LievenseCSO was “unsolicited”, but APNU/AFC Minister David Patterson took the company’s proposal to Cabinet for approval, and Cabinet granted its approval for the company to be engaged. The report stated that monies to be spent on the project were taken from the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (Asphalt Plant Accounts).