MINISTER of Public Works, Mr. Robeson Benn, on Wednesday, gave the National Assembly an update on the state of the Demerara Harbour Bridge, which suffered a setback earlier in the week resulting in the displacement of thousands of commuters. There was a collapse on the western end of the bridge where two heavily corroded pontoons that were in a scheduled maintenance period, sunk resulting in the subsequent spans being submerged. Since then, engineers have been working around the clock to correct the situation and around noon on Wednesday the bridge was back in operation, in the first instance, to light traffic (buses, cars and canters).
The transiting of heavy trucks was delayed until yesterday to ensure that the restored section of the bridge can take the weight of heavier vehicles.
Minister Benn explained that the genesis of this collapse goes back to when a support pontoon from the bridge was stolen. That pontoon was severely damaged and could not be used.
Responding to A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) member, Joseph Harmon who suggested that there has been a series of unscheduled closures of the bridge, inconveniencing commuters, he clarified that this has not been the case, but rather, there have been scheduled maintenance closures. Benn also maintained that this important structure is in good shape, with over 16,000 vehicles crossing the bridge on a daily basis.
“This maintenance work that was being done during the weekend was part of a series of scheduled maintenance and replacement activities designed to bring the bridge up to the best operating condition and this mishap was unfortunate but its duration was fairly limited,” Minister Benn stated.
There will be a full report on the recent malfunction which will address in details, what went wrong, who or what should be held culpable, the actions that have been taken to correct the situation and the issue of compensation to people.