THE Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) would be strengthened and become more efficient following Cabinet’s decision to grant its no-objection, on Tuesday, to two contracts that seem to allow for this.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon reported this at his weekly post-Cabinet press conference yesterday, at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.
One award, of $52.33M, was approved for the supply and driving of cluster piles while $38.04M is for supplying 60,000 feet of galvanized wire rope, he announced.
Luncheon said he was unclear about all the details surrounding the awards but offered that, to his understanding, the cluster piles would provide some element of protection of vital infrastructure on the bridge.
“So that, offending bodies like drifting ships and tugs and barges would first encounter these piles before they inflict damage on vital elements or structures on the bridge,” he explained.
The wire rope, a very prominent part of the structure of the bridge, seems to suggest that there is going to be new wire rope elsewhere so that most of it “might have been deemed to be unserviceable and is being replaced,” the HPS stated.
Earlier this year, a mishap on the DHB saw the jaws of a temporary pontoon failing, resulting in the section of the overpass, between span 60 and 61, submerging.
DHB General Manager, Mr. Rawlston Adams had, subsequently, informed reporters that there was no structural damage to the bridge.
The 6,074 feet or 1.851 miles long facility, which is about 34 years old, is a crucial link for transportation and other services across the Demerara River.