The Moruca Bridge – A $43M Catastrophe

On December 31, 2014, Old Year’s Day” -  AFC Member of Parliament Valerie Garido-Low, Region Eight Councillor Naiem Gafoor and Andrew Correia left Georgetown for their “Moruca Outreach”. As soon as they arrived at the Kumaka Landing they met with residents and then proceeded to get a first hand view of the revetment stretching across to San Jose from the Kumaka bridge. This bridge was supposed to be “properly completed” within seven days after MP Garrido-Lowe had asked the question of Minister Ganga Persaud in

The walkway built by residents

Parliament at the last sitting of the House on December 19, 2013. It was no surprise that the revetment was not completed at all. Instead, red mud and a long pool of water was the result of the work the contractor had done. Persons who had to do business on either side of the  Kumaka Bridge were forced to walk through this thigh-high, muddy water fetching their shopping bags, or, in the case of one young woman, fetching her baby on her hip while the other arm was stretched out for balance. How was this project allowed to deteriorate right in front of everyone’s eyes…? It is indeed unbelievable that repeated representations from as high as the parliamentary level had produced nothing to correct this situation! “Shameful, very shameful,” Garrido-Lowe and team described it. Later in the day the AFC team read a poster on the Village Office informing villagers that the council intended to build a catwalk at the side of the flooded dam so that the school children can cross over to go to school when it reopened the following Monday. The Captain and Councilors were inviting villages to take part in this self-help project. This was a necessary move by the villagers but they were very angry, too, and rightly so, that they had to resort to building something temporary when they should have had a beautifully built, strong bridge and a firm and dry revetment. After all, G$43M was spent to achieve just that. On the morning of January 4, back from their visit to Kwebana, the AFC team immediately went to the bridge again to have a look, this time, at the catwalk that the villagers had so conscientiously constructed for their children. It was built with wood and served its purpose adequately since it was already in use by residents. Congratulations to the residents of Santa Rosa! If the residents had built the bridge and revetment themselves they would have done an excellent job in a timely manner. By January 5, AFC MP Garrido Lowe was back in Georgetown, fairly at ease in the knowledge that the children could now attend school the next day and folks could at least get to go about their daily business without an extra cost. When there was no catwalk they were paying $500 per boat-load for a trip across the river which was quite reasonable taking into consideration the cost of gasoline. It was either that or risk sticking thigh-high in red, muddy water as the MP found out to her consternation when she attempted to walk across! The fact remains that boat owners stepped up to the challenge at an affordable cost and they must be commended for this. The Member of Parliament, on the other hand, intends to broach this matter with Minister Persaud once again…We must not fail to make mention of the huge anaconda that was found resting on the dam! Back in Georgetown, Garrido-Lowe got the biggest surprise when she received a call a few days ago from a Moruca resident informing her that the contractor was leaving without completing the job and that he was taking his equipment with him – and everything else it seems, because he ripped the boards that he claimed belonged to him from the catwalk! Now the residents of Moruca are back to square one… and in this weather, thigh-high in red, muddy water in order to conduct their daily business. Most of all the nursery and primary school children and their parents are now affected since their parents have to find daily transportation money for them to attend school by boat. “This contractor’s behaviour is total “eyepass”. How dare he treat the residents of Moruca in such a manner? What did they or their children do to him to deserve such callous treatment to be meted out to them? Is it because they are of indigenous descent and are living in the “interior”? In Parliament on Thursday, January 16 MP Garrido-Lowe spoke to Minister Ganga Persaud about this urgent and most serious matter. She told him that the contractor has done a bad job, behaved badly and should have been fired a long time ago; he is also putting the PPP Government to shame. Minister Persaud readily agreed with her and said that the Permanent Secretary was in Moruca right now to examine the situation. Garrido-Lowe told him that a concrete bridge is needed because there are reports that the columns that supported the bridge itself were sinking and the boards of the revetment were also too short. “I would think that both bridge and revetment should be condemned. An investigation is needed now into wasted monies and the contractor ought to be sanctioned. A well-built concrete structure should take its place. I am asking for this for our brothers and sisters of Moruca because they deserve it. I am also asking Minister Persaud to allow the people of Moruca to tender for this job because they have the skills and will do a better job”, says Garrido-Lowe.