Bridge reopens to vehicular traffic
Staff commended for efforts
Stabroek News
May 28, 2002
Vehicular traffic was flowing again across the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DBH) at 4:30 pm yesterday, a mere 43 hours after it was put out of commission by a barge which rammed its retractor span on Saturday evening.
The early completion of work to bring the bridge partially back into operation was achieved by round-the-clock efforts from DHB personnel to replace damaged sections of the structure. But despite the private optimism of the DHB team, caution was observed in announcing a likely time for the re-opening of the bridge to river traffic.
Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Anthony Xavier, who visited the site yesterday for a first-hand look at the progress of work was complimentary of the DHB team, headed by Project Manager (ag) Nasrudeen Aziz. He noted that they had worked tirelessly to remedy a situation which looked set to see the structure being out of commission for up to two weeks. According to the minister he had been given the assurance that the structure would have been opened to vehicular traffic by yesterday afternoon and he was satisfied that the bridge was safe for this undertaking.
Xavier also alluded to investigations commenced by the maritime police into what caused a loaded barge to escape its moorings at a East Bank Demerara wharf and plough into the bridge.
The minister said that the Attorney General would be engaged early in filing a claim against the principles of the barge to recover costs.
He saw the early completion of the remedial work as a relief to the Transport and Harbours Department, which has had to take up the slack by using three river ferries during the closure of the bridge.
The damage to the bridge, according to Aziz, was up to this point expected to be in the vicinity of $6 million and did not include the loss of daily revenue, which would be about $550,000, or the costs attached to importing electrical components to replace damaged ones, to which temporary remedial work was done. The non-functioning of the retractor span will also affect the revenue collected from vessels which is currently $15,000 for locally registered vessels and $50,000 for foreign registered ones.
Most of the work over the last two days, according to the project manager, centred around the replacement of several steel plates from stocks kept by the DHB. This was enhanced by the existence of a disaster preparedness plan to which engineers and others could have turned for guidance.
He also highly commended the staff who he said came out in force despite it being a double holiday.
Remedial work will continue on the electrical panels to facilitate functioning of the retractor span among other things. It is anticipated that the complete rehabilitation of the structure's electrical system will take approximately two weeks.
Questioned on any scheduled maintenance expected to have been carried out on the bridge, Aziz stated that plans had been in train to see the removal of some pontoons to be cleaned, and repositioned. He pointed to a floating dock which would be used during the maintenance and said that it was expected to commence shortly, notwithstanding the mishap.
During Stabroek News' visit to the structure yesterday afternoon, the major part of the bridge which on the previous day had appeared twisted out of proportion was straight and securely anchored to its floating supports.
According to Aziz, Saturday's accident, was the second largest in the history of the bridge. In 1989, he said, a ship, Blue Carib Venture crashed into the bridge causing extensive damage. The ship's local agents had to lodge a bond of $10 million before it was allowed to depart Guyana's waters.
The damage to the DHB on Saturday evening was mirrored on Sunday in the US state of Oklahoma when a large span of a bridge over which a major highway runs, collapsed after being struck by an empty oil barge. Some half a dozen cars and two tractor trailers dropped into the river; a number of deaths were reported.
However, in Guyana, major calamity was averted since DBH personnel had been monitoring the movement of the barge and were able to close the gates to restrict vehicular traffic.