The Kendal Bridge had an epic collapse in the floods of June, 2008 - and since then a third of the country has been under sustained threat of being cut off every time the Sittee swells.
Finally, tonight we can report that relief is in sight, if not quite on the immediate horizon. That's because today the contract to construct a new high level bridge was signed.
It's a follow up to the opening of the tendering process which we showed you in the first week of August. At that time, two firms made bids to construct the bridge: Cisco construction came in at 11.9 million dollars while Kier/Kee Chanona came in at $16.5 million.
And while in tendering, the contract is not always to the cheapest, with a price difference of almost 5 million dollars - it wasn't hard to foresee that the contract would be awarded to CISCO.
And it was made official today when the contact was signed between the Minister of Works Boots Martinez and Francis Woods of CISCO construction.
Woods says they hope to build a bridge that will endure for a long time.
Francis Woods of CISCO construction
"On behalf of CISCO Construction our team is very proud to have won this bid. Its unique, I think it's the longest structure of this design single span with no piers so we are proud to have been able to bid so reasonably and we are sure of our prices, right, Mr. Vargas? But it should be definitely be a first class bridge and we hope that the river will never reach the height to touch this bridge again because its 10 feet higher that the last one. We feel very confident there will be a bridge for many years to come."
Hon. Melvin Hulse
"Definitely the wait has been worth it a lot of people keep complaining about the bride, the length of time that the Ministry Of Works took to do it. The Ministry Of Works along with the CDB and the consultant it was imperative that there was no rush to ensure that the type of bridge put up there would adequately serve not only currently but future needs and that involved putting in a double end bridge with an extended span on both side and an additional height."
The work should commence immediately and is slated to be completed within 18 months - but - considering it took 27 months just to get a contract signed - we'd say give it two years….
The Bridge was designed by a New Zealand firm and financed by the CDB.
And for those who are into the technical specifications:
The bridge will consist of a 90 meter steel truss supporting reinforcement concrete deck founded on driven piles.
Email
Print