Harbour Bridge closed to marine, heavy vehicular traffic

The Demerara Harbour Bridge has been closed to marine and heavy traffic due to mechanical issues with two deteriorating retractor spans – a move that will inconvenience hundreds.

On Friday, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill rapped the former Administration for their neglect and mismanagement of the bridge over the past five years.
He stated that this “emergency issue” speaks to the level of mismanagement, incompetence, and neglect of Guyana’s physical infrastructure by the APNU/AFC coalition.
“I was extremely disappointed when I got there to learn that this problem is known and was known since 2016 and it remains unresolved…the Guyanese population must be advised that all of these problems that we are facing today is not because the PPP/C came to office a month ago,” Minister Edghill posited.
Further, he noted that the bridge is of paramount importance to the livelihood of the Guyanese people; therefore, a functional bridge is required.
“Everybody knows the importance of the Demerara Harbour Bridge; any Administration that is in the office know the investments that have to be made to keep the Demerara Harbour Bridge in a manner that it can be used and serve the people of Guyana,” the Minister explained.
To this end, he has ordered the General Manager, Rawlston Adams, to devise timely options to resume the free flow of traffic while noting that the issue can take up to a week to resolve.
“We have to devise a technical engineering solution of how the damages that are there could be repaired. Initial assessment when I visited there a while ago, they indicated that it could be four days or it could be a week to be repaired,” Minister Edghill said.
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 PPP/C 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, as well as a pedestrian walkway and 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, which was ousted from Government this year – 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 of 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 then 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). (G1)