Works on Sheriff-Mandela road to go beyond curfew from Monday
– Minister Edghill
Minister of Public Works, Hon. Bishop Juan Edghill has said works on the Sheriff-Mandela Road Expansion Project would be conducted beyond the 10:30pm curfew to ensure that the project is completed by the August deadline.
The Minister was at the time engaging reporters following a site inspection on Wednesday to assess the level of progress to date.
The extended working hours will begin Monday depending on the weather. Minister Edghill believes that this approach would advance the project, especially since there would be less commuters and vehicles traversing the road during that period.
“So 10:30 at nights when there is the curfew hour, they will be able to get the paving done up to the morning when its 4 o’clock, when the curfew hours are lifted, so that we will be able to allow road movement again. I believe that this is a significant activity that could help with the pace.”
While he is satisfied that the project is moving apace, Minister Edghill says there are some areas that need improvement. He says provisions would be made to lessen challenges during the daily operations.
“The blockages at Section K that are causing flooding, we are making two interventions. The core team from Ministry of Public Works will do some internal works in the drains and the contractor is instructed to remove all of the blockages, including pipes that are there restricting the follow of water.
At the Lamaha bridge, Mr. Shaik Baksh, CEO of GWI, and my Project Engineer, Mr. Mark Greene, need to conclude not later than today, where the pipes are going because that is what is hindering the contractor from making the bypass and getting ahead with the works,” he explained.
Minister Edghill also said there are some challenges with the testing of piles at the Arapaima Bridge, (situated obliquely opposite the East La Penitence Police Station). However, those materials will be tested Thursday morning and works continued there.
The Minister also pointed out that the ‘wavy’ demarcations on some sections of the recently paved roadway require additional work.
“An international paving company has been sub-contracted to do the final paving. So, it wouldn’t be BK International doing the final paving, it will be the same company that did the West Coast road project.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Krishna Narine, SRK Engineering’s Local Project Coordinator, said capitalising on the curfew hour is a good step and will reconfigure the timeline for the project. He added that efforts would be made to complete the majority of the paving works before the May/June rain begins.
“If we attempt to pave the road during the day, there will be massive disruption and we will be defeating our whole purpose of what we are trying to accomplish. What we want to do is to have a social component that gives comfort to the users of the road and one of the ways to do that is to pave it when the people are not using the road,” he added. Additionally, the Minister examined the status of work at Hunter Street, which he said needs some adjustment. “One of the reasons why I came out today is because we planned to do those works on the Easter weekend, when the business traffic is minimised,” he explained.Minister Edghill is expected to make a follow up visit soon.