-emergency works to be undertaken before rains

A KEY bridge at Yupukari in the Central Rupununi which links several villages in the area was recently destroyed in what is suspected to be the work of arsonists.

Regional Executive Officer (REO) of the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo region, Carl Parker, told the Guyana Chronicle on Sunday that the village leader at Yupukari visited the administrative capital of the region , Lethem , and informed him of the incident.

He said the wooden bridge, termed the Yupukari Number Two Bridge, was burnt flat and all its columns were destroyed . Parker said a superintendent of works from the regional office visited the site and it was also observed that some old pieces of wood, which were left discarded from previous works, were left untouched.

He said the authorities found the latter strange, since all pieces of wooden structures would have been razed had it been a savannah fire.”It cannot be a savannah fire which was the cause, so we suspect it to be the work of an arsonist,” Parker said.

The bridge provides a link between the villages of Yupukari, Marakanata, Quatata, Fly Hill, Kaicumbay, Katoka, and Simone with the rest of the Rupununi.

At the moment , motorists can drive at the flanks of the bridge to get past the area, but Parker noted that when the rains come, the entire area would be inaccessible if the bridge is not fixed in time.

As such, a contract to the tune of $15M has been crafted for emergency works to be undertaken at the site. Parker said the new structure will be built with concrete, mainly the support structure; the beams will be built with wood and he noted that this would make the structure usable, even if another fire breaks out at the site.

He said a report is expected to be made to the police at Lethem, but he noted that it remains highly unlikely that the perpetrators would be found.