Consortium's South African partners due here for negotiations this week
Stabroek News
July 15, 2002
The Berbice River Bridge Consortium (BRBC) has submitted the draft development agreements for bridging the Berbice River and the South African partners are expected this week to start face-to-face negotiations with the government.
Governments lead negotiator, Winston Brassington, said on Tuesday that it was still too early to say whether actual construction on the bridge could begin this year.
However, he indicated that much work has been done by the consortium in the draft documents submitted and he saw this as a positive step for the process of negotiating a contract for the construction of the bridge.
The draft project development agreements include preliminary designs, which allowed for a costing of the project including the cost of the bridge, approach roads, the cost of financing as well as the economics and viability of bridging that river.
BRBC had 60 working days to submit the draft agreements and did so late last month. It was the second ranked bidder for the Berbice Bridge Project and was invited to start negotiations with the government after the highest ranked bidder, Ballast Nedam International (BNI) walked from the project earlier this year.
The consortium heavily favours a cantilever main span bridge for the project, but the option of a cable anchored main span remains open. The former bridge type gets its support from columns whilst the latter's support comes from cables supported by fewer columns.
The bridge proposed by BRBC is to be constructed at Route B in the Figg study, which is at the bend of the Berbice River upstream of Everton and below Route C, which was chosen by BNI.
At Route B, the bridge will start at Stanvastigheid on the west bank of the river and reach Belle Vue on the other side. This will mean a shorter bridge and shorter access roads than envisioned by the BNI proposal. BNI's bridge would have been 4,800 feet in length but BRBC's proposal is for a bridge some 3,350 feet in length. However, the length of the main span in the case of the latter is 450 feet against the 250 feet proposed by BNI.
BRBC expects to conclude negotiations with the government in a short time to allow for the project to move forward.
In late April, the government had issued the consortium with a comfort letter necessary for it to move ahead with the project. The letter assures the firm of the necessary fiscal environment for the private sector investment in the project. It also assures of government's support in the first five years of the life of the project if necessary and of the government's intention to have the Berbice ferry service used for pedestrian passenger crossing only and not vehicular traffic.
If the pace of implementation of the project goes without hitches, BRBC expects actual construction of the bridge to start before the end of the year.