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.
