Works not stalled on Hope Canal Project – agriculture minister

Works are continuing on the Hope Canal project and if the contractor does not make the deadline, penalties will be applied; Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy told media operatives at a press conference held Tuesday at his Regent Street office.

“Indeed, in terms of the construction of the canal which would include digging, earthen work construction of the firm… the shallow part you do not see continues… we have constructed the canal from the Crown Dam to the highway… that is as far as we can go right now from the northern side…; on the southern side, we’ve been constructing from the Crown Dam to the conservancy,” Minister Ramsammy explained.
He added that the contractors have begun shaping the dams, as the canal is not straight and has an eight-foot dam. A bridge is, therefore, vital, because it will not only be crossing a 300-foot canal, but it will have to go over on both sides of the dams.
“This is a high bridge not a flat one, that will be constructed… we are at present completing the shaping of the dam for the parts that we have already constructed,” the agriculture minister said.
He explained that when the decision was taken that the canal’s construction was going to be done by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) itself, many people thought the entity did not have the capacity to execute the works, however, its output has proven those remarks wrong.
“In fact, it is the other contractors that are keeping this project from a timely completion… we still have a June 2013 completion date… however, the work on the construction of the bridge has been going slowly… the main part of the bridge is the drilling/ driving of piles and that should be completed by November… the same thing has happened on the sluice construction that would connect the canal to the ocean,” Minister Ramsammy explained.
He added that the piles on these two aspects of the projects are being driven slowly, and the original excuse was the availability of piles, which should not have been an issue for the bridge construction. “The contractor has, however, assured us that they have gotten access to the piles; therefore, there should be no excuse for the slowness of the driving of the piles… that is the major aspect of the work that has to be done,” Minister Ramsammy said.