Former Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson has responded claims made by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government on the McKenzie-Wismar bridge, reminding the nation of the A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government’s role of its conceptualisation and fund sourcing.
In a Letter to Editor, carried in today’s publication Patterson calls-out Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, making known the construction cost for the two-lane version of the Wismar bridge was US$23.6M (inclusive of 10% contingency ) while the four-lane version was pegged at US$29.2M (inclusive of contingency), as pegged by the coalition government.
The PPP government has, however, claimed the US$35M contract sealed for McKenzie-Wismar bridge represents “the former APNU+AFC Government, (proposed) to build a new two-lane bridge across the Demerara River to the tune of US$30 million.”
Delving further in the coalition’s infrastructural development plans, Patterson traces the background to the project and the APNU+AFC’s planned projects of linking the hinterland to the coast.
Project design, Patterson states, was commissioned for the Linden-Mabura highway (currently under construction), a fixed bridge crossing at Kurupukari on the Essequibo River and a fixed bridge at McKenzie – Wismar, and by 2019 all designs, inclusive of geotechnical studies, environmental and social impact analyses were completed.
Lambasting Edghill’s deceit Patterson states that for him to now be boasting that the “PPP’s version, which is twenty percent higher, for the exact same design bridge is quite laughable, but understandable for a government that moved the Gas to Shore project from US$580M to US$2.8B – highlighting that the concept of cost-effective projects is alien to the PPP.”
Underscoring the deceit, Patterson notes President Irfaan Ali and Edghill have failed to remind the Lindeners none of these projects would have seen the light of day, for in 2019, when the PPP was in opposition, the party informed the British funding agency (DFID), that if it was successful at the 2020 elections, Linden – Mabura highway would be scrapped. “It was only after DFID, informed the PPP that if they are so shortsighted, then the DFID would withdraw the US$75M grant which was earmarked for the project. Therefore, not being able to kill this project, the PPP reluctantly agreed to proceed.”
Placing credit where due, Patterson states the McKenzie – Wismar bridge was the brainchild of the APNU+AFC administration, a project that the PPP attempted to kill. The PPP government, he reminds, made no inclusions in its 2020 and 2021 budgets for this project, and it was only after the public outcry by Lindeners that the government reluctantly reintroduced the project. “So much for caring for the people of Region #10.”
Touching on the coalition’s third project, the fixed bridge at Kurupukari, Patterson points out the PPP has dropped it completely, condemning the citizens of Region #9, to a pontoon crossing which is on available for 12-hours daily. “So much for visionary leadership,” he asserts.
The road and bridges mentioned above were part of the APNU+AFC’s infrastructural development plan for the citizens of Region 10. “Additionally, studies were completed for a fixed bridge over the Berbice river to Kwakwani, contracts were awarded and works already started on a road linking Orealla/Siparuta in Region #6 to Kwakwani, funding was secured for a high new highway, linking Kwakwani and Ituni to the new Linden – Lethem highway as well as for the construction of an international standard transport hub in Linden, which would have catered for the anticipated increased traffic from Brazil on the completion of the Linden – Lethem road.”
The Member of Parliament and former minister points out that all these projects have been abandoned by the PPP and replaced with small drain cleaning contracts to a few of their selected supporters.
