KINGSTON - A freshwater environment is the perfect habitat in which to relocate the current Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) when its replacement comes into operation, and according to Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, the Kurupukari Crossing on the Upper Essequibo River is a likely candidate.
“The elements of the bridge at the time when the new bridge comes into place, since it is a floating bridge, will be moved, preferably to a freshwater crossing location,” he told reporters Friday, Janiary 31, 2014.
As DHB General Manager, Mr Rawlston Adams hastened to explain, it is more economical to move the bridge to a location where it is useful, rather than leaving it standing at its present location. “If we are going for a high-level bridge, and then you want to keep a low-level bridge in terms of marine transit, that would be a bottleneck, and it defeats the purpose of having a high-level bridge,” he said.
The feasibility study for the new bridge has already been completed, with Versailles on the West Bank, to Houston on the East Bank being determined as having the best advantage in terms of location, as are Good Hope on the East Bank and Patentia on the West Bank.
With the government having indicated that it will invite Expressions of Interest for a public-private partnership for the construction of the new bridge, Minister Benn has reported that any such arrangements will be handled by NICIL (National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited) and not his ministry, since that is the agency which attends to such matters.
He further explained that the reason such an arrangement is being sought is because the government does not have the kind of money it will take to finance the venture.
The new bridge will be made of reinforced concrete, have four lanes (some 20 metres wide) for vehicular traffic; a walkway for pedestrians; a cycle lane; navigational clearance (100m wide); navigational aids; and an estimated length of 2250 m.
KINGSTON - The Ministry of Public Works recorded a slight drop in overall performance in 2013 following constraints of weather and lack of critical building material.
Public Works Minister Robeson Benn disclosed on January 31, 2014, that the ministry completed 84 percent its 2013 performance work programmes. On average, the ministry’s completion rates are usually in the 90s, according to Minister Benn, “Unfortunately last year we were off a bit, not only because we had much more work to do, in terms of rollover projects, and additional projects added on to us during the year, but because also we had constraints with respect to the type of weather.”
The year 2013 had a lot of unseasonal rainfall that influenced many of the ministry’s projects. The ministry also had issues with some projects, with respect to the supply of stone, an almost strategic ingredient for the national infrastructure building programme, Minister Benn pointed out.
There were also issues with the mismatch in terms of scheduling of road works, and the timing of financing, “So overall while we have not achieved as much as we thought that we should achieve, in 2013, we are satisfied overall in the ministry with our performance, in terms of the lessons learnt, the experience gained and what we need to do better in 2014,” he said.
Permanent Secretary Balraj Balram said that for 2013 the ministry ended up with a total budget of $18.019B, which accounted for current provision of $2.509B and capital provision of $12.088B. Of the total provision, the ministry’s overall expenditure amounted to 84 percent of the provision, which is $15.120B, of which, current expenditure was 2.499B and capital expenditure was $12.620B.
Performance-wise the ministry completed 99.6 percent of its current programme and 81.36 percent of its capital programmes in 2013.
KINGSTON - The Ministry of Public Works will be hosting its 4th Engineering Conference in collaboration with the University of Guyana, who is celebrating its 50th Anniversary.
The conference will be held on February 6, 2014 at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC) under the theme “Building Guyana’s Future Step By Step”.
This event will set new standards of excellence in Guyana and will bring together a wide range of local and international experts and innovators in the field of engineering, road safety, renewable energy and maritime administration and hundreds of engineering professionals, contractors, consultants, suppliers and students.
The technical sessions will be highlighted by presentations on a number of ongoing development projects in Guyana and will provide participants with the opportunity to interact with the presenters and policy makers in the transport sector.
The feature address will be delivered by the His Excellency President Donald Ramotar.
Registration will commence at 08:00 hrs and the technical sessions from run from 08:30 hrs to 17:00 hrs.
KINGSTON - The Cheddi Jagan International Airport Corporation (CJIAC) has raked in over one billion dollar in revenue for 2013, according to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ramesh Ghir at a press conference held this afternoon, January 31, 2014 at Minister Robeson Benn’s office.
The presser was to allow the Minister and heads of agencies/departments to give an overview of 2013 and projections for 2014.
Aerodrome Charges and Concession amounted to nearly 40 percent of the Timehri facility’s $1,077,314,910 purse. Rounding up the list are Taxi, Red Caps and Car Park fees, Fuel Dispensary and Land Lease.
The financial performance came as no surprise since three airlines – Travel Span, Fly Jamaica and CONVIASA - have begun operations during the latter part of the year.
“Delta pulling out was a blow to us but we are making a slow recovery,” Mr. Ghir stated. However, he is optimistic that in 2014 the Corporation’s performance will “be exceptional.”
KINGSTON - All sections of the Amaila Falls Access road will be completed by March 31 of this year divulged Walter Willis, the Ministry of Public Works Chief Engineer to members of the media today, January 31 at Minister Robeson Benn’s office.
The road snakes through Regions 10, 7 and 8.
The Ministry held its annual 2013 year-in-review where representatives of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA); Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB); Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA); Transport and Harbour Department (T&HD); Works Services Group (WSG); Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) and Permanent Secretary within the Ministry, Balraj Balram gave projections for 2014, as well as, their performance for 2013.
According to Willis as of December 31, 2013 - 80 percent of the 162.41 km road has been completed.
In giving a breakdown of the Access Road progress, the Chief Engineer revealed that Section A is 89 percent completed; Section B - 32 percent; Section 3 - 73 percent; Section 4 – 99 percent; Section 5 – 98 percent; Section 6 – 55 percent and Section 7 – 74 percent.
Outstanding is placing laterite on all sections, Mr. Willis added. Additionally, three bridges have to be built and the Kuribong and Butukari Pontoon Crossings have to be erected as well.
“In addition to that, 2.5 kilometers in Sections 2, that is, the swamp section has to be high filled,” Willis said.
KINGSTON - Besieged sea defences are in line for a $4b injection from the European Union (EU) but it will first require the government spending $5.5b over the next three years and fulfilling a host of conditions.
Minister of Finance and National Authorising Officer, Dr. Ashni Singh, today signed the Financing Agreement for the 10th EDF Sea and River Defence Sector Budget Support Programme, valued at €14.8M (US$19.7m) at the Ministry of Finance.
The Head of the EU Delegation to Guyana, Ambassador Robert Kopecký and Minister of Public Works and Communications, Robeson Benn, witnessed the signing. The Agreement was signed in EU HQ in Brussels by Jolita Butkeviciene, Director for Latin America and Caribbean of the European Commission’s Directorate for Development and Cooperation.
According to a press release from EU, in order for Guyana to qualify for financial disbursement under the 10thEDF agreement, “the Sea and River Defence Sector would have to satisfy specific performance criteria in investment and performance targets, including detailed annual implementation plan, capacity building plan, annual condition surveys of all 160 km of manmade sea defences and implementation of an Annual Infrastructure Programme as outlined in the Sector Policy Implementation Plan. To equip the sector and place it on the right trajectory towards achieving these performance targets Government would have to invest in excess of G$5.5 billion into the sector, over the next three years before it can satisfy the eligibility criteria and qualify for disbursements amounting to €14.8M.”
The EU has been a major contributor to sea defence rehabilitation here.
The release said that the partnership dates back to the 7th EDF programme signed on 24 February 1994, at which time €12 M was committed. A further €20 M and €18.018 M were assigned under the 8th and 9th EDF Programmes respectively.
“Overall the EU has contributed about €50 millioninto the sea and river defence sector towards the construction, rehabilitation and/or maintenance of approximately 35 km of sea defence structures in Regions 2, 3, 4 and 6”, the release said.
The Government of Guyana continues to invest extensively in the sector, and over the past five years Government has invested over GYD$13.3 B.
KINGSTON - The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has taken issue with various statements in the public domain concerning the function of the authority in relation to accident and incident investigations.
The GCAA in a release said Guyana as a signatory to the Convention on International Civil Aviation is mandated to carry out a safety investigation in conformity with the protocols and procedures set out in Annex 13 to that convention.
“It must be made clear that this Annex 13 investigation is a safety investigation with the sole objective of preventing accidents and incidents. It is not the purpose of this type of activity to apportion blame or liability. These types of investigations are usually carried out by the national regulatory body for civil aviation. This is the practice internationally; Guyana is no different in this regard,” the body said.
The Civil Aviation (investigation of accidents) Regulations of 1982 makes provision for the appointment of an inspector of accidents for the purposes of carrying out an investigation into the circumstances and causes of accidents and incidents arising out of or in the course of air navigation, which occur to civil aircraft in or over Guyana, or elsewhere to civil aircraft registered in Guyana.
“To therefore infer that in conducting a safety investigation, GCAA is in essence investigating itself, is an obfuscation of the facts.
“While the GCAA, like other aviation authorities across the region, does not yet have the optimum level of resources, the authority has formed the necessary relationships that bring to bear any technical and human resources as the need arises.”
The aviation body said one such example is the relationship between the GCAA and the Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System (CASSOS). While the GCAA does not have a full-time in-house flight operations inspector, the services of a qualified Inspector are made readily available through CASSOS.
“Indeed, the very reason for the existence of CASSOS is to provide the human and technical resources to address the existing regional deficiencies in these areas.
“It is important to note that the GCAA was staffed with an ICAO approved flight operations inspector but certain operators took to the courts to prevent him from carrying out his functions, resulting in his eventual departure from the authority. Since that time, the GCAA has been making continuous efforts to recruit a full-time, in-house flight operations inspector,” the GCAA.
With respect to the most recent accident, the GCAA has moved swiftly to carry out its mandate as it is required to do under national and international law. The authority is in contact with the relevant international agencies and has in place all the technical and human resources necessary for the completion of its safety investigation.
PETER’S HALL – Over 10,000 vehicles traversed the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) on December 21, 2013 – shattering the one day record on the 35 year-old bridge.
According to General Manager Rawlston Adams the actual volume tallied at the end of the day was 10,894. Meanwhile, December 24, 2013 registered the second highest total - 10,101 with December 26 recorded the lowest figure - 6,195.
The total number of vehicles recorded for December 2013 was 273,418compared to 269,497 for December 2012.
Overall, 3,098,038vehicles trekked over the bridge compared to 2,925,814in 2012. This, Mr. Adams, disclosed his monthly report last week represented a 5.89 percent increase.
Motor Car (P) accounted for 49.89 percent of the total volume of traffic, followed by Motor Car (H) at 15.69 percent then Mini-Bus at 13.44 percent.
KINGSTON - A Temporary Guard employed with Transport and Habrbor Department (T&HD) was fired after he was caught stealing several gallons of fuel on January 11, 2014 from the Bitumen Plant, Garden of Eden.
Noel Sue was given his termination letter on January 22, 2014. He was dismissed with immediate effect.
Investigations revealed that Mr. Sue reported that he was the one who caught another guard stealing the fuel. However, T&HD Management viewed his counter claim as a failed attempt to divert attention in an attempt to complicate the investigations.
Mr. Sue’s act of thievery caused T&HD to misplace all trust and confidence in him as a member of its Security Section, whose main responsibility was to ensure the Security of the Department’s assets.
In light of T&HD’s zero tolerance approach to theft, management invoked the Public Service’s Table of offences #34 which states that the penalty for stealing on the first occasion can be dismissal.
Currently, T&HD is probing suspicious activities on ferries and at stellings. Any person (s) found liable will be dealt with condignly.
KINGSON - The Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) remembered those persons who recently perished on the waterways by distributing nine sets of hampers to relatives of the deceased at MARAD's Head Office on January 10, 2014.
Receiving hampers were June Moses, wife of Deon Moses, 33yrs old and formerly of Norton Street Wortmanville who died in a boat collision on the Mazaruni River in January 2013, Dawn Glasgow, mother of Adrian Glasgow, 24yrs old of Industry ECD who died in September on the Essequibo River, Shawn Seeram, son of Jewan Seeram, 52yrs old of Tuschen EBD who perished on the Mazaruni River in January 2013and Joan Yearwood, mother of Kevon Ambrose, 25yrs old of Vergenoegen EBE and who also died on the Mazaruni River in January 2013.
In addition, relatives of Captain Dale Duggin, 28yrs of Paripi Upper Demerara River, who recently died in November in a boat collision, also received a hamper on behalf of their family.
Four other persons were also beneficiaries of hampers from MARAD, they are, Swarswati Charran, wife of Zahir Baksh, 34yrs old, Carlton Amsterdam, father of Keanu Amsterdam, 17yrs old, Penelope Grimes, wife of Ulric Grimes, 39yrs old, all of whom died in January 2013 on the Mazaruni River in a boat collision. Peggy Williams also received a hamper on behalf of the family of Donna Rampersaud, who recently perished in a boat accident in November 2013 on the Essequibo River.
Seventeen persons died in 2013 as a result of boat accidents.
MARAD in its continued effort to curb accidents on the waterways, has embarked on a countrywide safety campaign involving life jackets distribution, and safety messages promotion in all regions of Guyana.
