The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

WORKS and Utilities Minister Alfred Sears and other officials were in Exuma on Friday to assess and inspect the progress of the $60m roadworks and infrastructure project on the island.

Mr Sears, along with Parliamentary Secretary Bacchus Rolle, Permanent Secretary Luther Smith and Deputy Director Damien Francis, visited various sites in Exuma, including those in Mount Thompson, Moss Town and George Town.

They inspected the progress of paving and other infrastructural work on the island carried out by Caribbean Paving Solutions Ltd (CPSL), a subsidiary of the Bahamas Striping Group of Companies Limited (BSGC).

The government is in a public private partnership (PPP) agreement with BSGC for this $60 million project, which is expected to be fully completed in mid-2024.

In Exuma, where much of the roads are unpaved and uneven, some seven to ten miles of an overall estimated 60 miles of road have been paved on Queen’s Highway so far. Mr Sears said the road is now thicker, wider, more resilient and sustainable.

“This PPP is to pave up to 60 miles of road, main road, also community roads to widen those roads, most of which are 18 feet, and where the space allows up to 24 feet to install drainage infrastructure, culverts so that the roads will be protected from the potting of water which can compromise the integrity of the road. Approximately seven miles have been completed,” he said.

Some 50 Bahamians are employed on the project.

“In addition to the employment, the contractors are Bahamians, they are using Bahamian businesses, Bahamian restaurants, they’re renting property for their employees. So we have really a multiplier effect, where the local community, they’re feeling the economic impact of the project,” he said.

BSCG managing director Allen Albury said that some $7m has been spent on the project so far.

“We’re looking at about $7m into the project thus far,” he said. “We brought in sufficient (materials for road works) to do ten miles and then we’ll have another shipment coming in the first quarter of 2023, and so that will allow us to keep the project moving.”

Officials also visited the LN Coakley High School, the Ferry Bridge and the George Town City Centre where other road and infrastructure works are being completed.

At LN Coakley High School in Moss Town, BSGC has undertaken the paving and infrastructure of the track and field, as well as construction of bathrooms on the site, through partnership with a local construction company, Upon this Rock, contracted at $250,000.

At the George Town City Centre, Varma Singh, BSCG chief engineer and superintendent, said plans are still being made to pave the busy main road after replacing and changing old underground utility pipes.

At the bridge linking Little and Great Exuma, commonly called the Ferry Bridge, which has had ongoing structural issues for over ten years, Jumaane Paul, a civil engineer in the Ministry of Works, said there are also plans to bring the bridge up to international standards so that it can last for at least 75 years.

“The Ferry Bridge is currently about 565 feet long. It’s a single-lane bridge and right now there is a lot of deterioration to the superstructure, so part of the plan is to reconstruct a new bridge, a two-lane bridge and a sidewalk on the western side of the existing bridge,” Mr Paul said.

“Right now, in the ministry we’re undertaking preliminary designs to put it out to tender very soon,” he said.

He said construction may be anywhere from 18 to 24 months, not including the planning and preliminary stages of the project. In the meantime, the current bridge is being monitored and weight restrictions have been instated.

In 2011, under the Ingraham administration, there was a rehabilitation programme undertaken by the Ministry of Works, to temporarily mitigate and stop the deterioration of the bridge. A detailed inspection was also done at this time.

The last time road works took place in Exuma was in 2020 and before that 20 years ago with a pea rock and seal road, which lasts up to 15 years, as opposed to an asphalt road, which lasts a minimum of 20 years, Mr Sears said.

Mr Sears also said the Andre Roberts Stadium in New Providence will be completed by December and there are also plans to rehabilitate the Thomas A Robinson Stadium in the future.