| …Toshao laments poor quality of rehabilitated bridge The $43M rehabilitation of the main access bridge in the Moruca Sub Region,NFL Jerseys Cheap, in the North West District was supposed to have been completed in three months but according to the villagers, it is now almost two years since the project commenced and is still unfinished.To make matters worse, more than $15M which was used for revetment works on the eastern end of the bridge has since turned into slush. It is below the water level and has led to the residents resorting to a makeshiftThe stretch revetment that has turned into slush.walkway in order to access the Bridge.The bridge facilitates just about 7000 persons, including an average of 1000 school children who traverse the facility on a daily basis.As a result of the pleadings of the residents of the community, a team from A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Monday last travelled to the interior location to witness the situation first hand and listen to the woes of the persons living there.The APNU team was led by its Shadow Public Works Minister Joseph Harmon, Regional Member of Parliament, Renita Williams and also included political advisor Ronald Backer and Public Relations Officer, Mark Archer.Harmon and team held a community meeting as well as met with Chairman of the Village Council, Toshao Basil Cornelius.During that meeting,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, Cornelius,Cheap NFL Jerseys, in venting his frustration,Jerseys NFL Cheap, told the APNU team that the present Regional officials are treating the problems associated with most of the projects in the region “lightly” and with the bridge they are “going too far.”He spoke of what he called favoritism by the Regional officials in the granting of numerous contracts to a single individual or a selected few.“I would say that is the main cause for the very poor quality of work,” said Cornelius.On the matter of the bridge,Nike NFL Jerseys China, he related to Harmon that the works started in 2012 and was supposed to be finished at the end of that year.“The contractor gave me his word on that, it was not a new bridge, it was a rehabilitation of the bridge.”According to Cornelius, they had been shown the drawings of the plan for the bridge and from a layman’s perspective they believed that it looked good, when in fact it was that very plan that was the beginning of the problems.MP Renita Williams (left) along with Harmon and Ronald Backer as they inspect another of the bridges in the community.Among the many problems with the bridge is the fact that the contractor used appropriately short piles which were even shorter than those that had been in place on the older bridge.According to Cornelius,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, what in fact happened is that only a few new piles were installed and the top of the bridge redone.“Where the inferiority of the materials is concerned I think that adds more to the insult,” according to an upset Cornelius.According to the official, the bridge is now worse than it was years ago.Cornelius said that as a leader in the village, he tries to work with the system and keeps negotiating with the relevant authorities and while the officials would usually make promises, the woes continue.“As the year dragged on and the bridge kept being an issue I realized that the Regional officials are not going to answer the questions, they are not going to do anything and as such we started to make our voices heard as a village.”Cornelius said that to date (Monday) he is yet to receive word from the officials on the way forward.Cornelius is calling on the authorities to complete the bridge given that thousands of people depend on it.The Moruca area is described as a number of islands in between rivers and swampy areas.The bridge in question is the main one that provides access across the Moruca River.Cornelius described the current state of the bridge as a setback for the community for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.Cornelius called the state of affairs with the bridge, an insult to the village council as wellAPNU’s Joseph Harmon meeting with Toshao,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, Basil Cornelius on Monday last.as the people of the Region.He questioned how it is that the contractor for the bridge has not been penalized and asked, “Why is this contractor so powerful.”Cornelius noted too that when the contractor decided to pull out his equipment from the project,NFL Jerseys China, the Council had taken a decision to seize the equipment given that the bridge was yet to be completed but was advised against such a move when they sought legal advice.Harmon however told Cornelius that as far as the contractor is concerned the project is completed.He informed the Council Chairman that he had met with the contractor before travelling in to the region and was told that by the time he reached the community on Monday the revetment work would have been completed.“I am to assume that what I have seen there is the completed work,” said Harmon.Harmon in his observations noted that on the western end of the bridge there was a pitch road leading onto the bridge and questioned why in the contract the same could not have obtained, rather than the use of loam revetment.It was noted that the revetment was built on pegasse.“You needed to have something firm in order to take that traffic…on a sealed surface,” said Harmon.The APNU Executive Member is adamant that this was something that the members of the community deserve.“The community is entitled, this is not something that you have to beg for, you are entitled to a better quality of work,” Harmon told Cornelius.He reiterated that it is the nation’s money being spent.He suggested that it was eye-pass to the Region and posited that this had transpired because it was being done outside of the glare of the public’s view.According to Harmon, public works fall under his portfolio as shadow minister and regardless of the project, Guyanese deserve a better quality of work and that the contractors must execute works in a better manner.Cornelius told the APNU official that he met with President Donald Ramotar, last Wednesday and had expressed alarm over the state of the bridge.While he did not secure a firm commitment from the President, he said that Ramotar did indicate that the Administration is exploring the idea of securing another contractor to complete the bridge. |
