Historical railway bridges to be dismantled
Stabroek News
June 23, 2002
The railway bridges that span the Mahaica, Mahaicony and Abary rivers will soon be dismantled when the Ministry of Works begins a new road alignment project. The project is financed by the International Development Bank (IDB) loan programme, which involves the improvement of streets and bridges from Timehri to Rosignol.
Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Works Ajay Baksh told this newspaper that a group of engineers had asked the ministry for permission to re-structure and re-site the nineteenth-century bridges which are of historical interest.
Baksh said that the government would undertake the dismantling of the bridges but could not fund the re-siting and re-assembling, and the group might have to consult the National Trust for additional funding for this purpose. He said that the Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary Agricultural Development Authority had offered to have the Mahaica bridge sited in their compound.
An informed source told Sunday Stabroek that the National Trust had been contacted by Mr Lowe informing them of the dismantling of the bridge but that the agency had not been approached by the engineers seeking to preserve the bridges. Tenders for the dismantling of the bridges were supposed to have been opened for bidding some time last week but this newspaper has not been able to confirm whether this has, in fact, happened.
Sunday Stabroek asked a civil engineer whether it was possible for the bridges to be dismantled and re-assembled at another site without permanent damage, and was told that it is possible but that it would be very time consuming and also very costly.
Due to rusting each piece would have to be taken apart carefully and would then have to be cleaned, stored and transported to the new location before being re-assembled.