THE Ministry of Infrastructure, Port Services and Transport has signed four finance/build contracts and a procurement contracts.
The brief signing ceremony was attended by representatives of the five contracting firms. The contracts total EC$14,733,507.24 and will cater to rehabilitation works in five communities by the end of February.
The Eau Piquant – Belle Vue Road Project will include rehabilitation of approximately 2,900m of road, inclusive of concrete drains, metal grills, chip and spray road surfacing and rubble retaining walls. That contract has been awarded to Francis Chitolie of Master Builders Ltd. at a cost of $8,350,666.38.
The Ciceron Main Road Project will entail rehabilitation of approximately 2,063m of road, inclusive of concrete drains, raised manholes, asphaltic concrete wearing course, road markings and signage. That contract has been awarded to Construction and Industrial Equipment Ltd. at a cost of $2,883,805.32.
The Fond Cacoa Road Project in Babonneau will see to the rehabilitation of approximately 1,010m of road, inclusive of construction of concrete drains, manhole cover adjacents, metal grills, concrete steps and concrete pavements. That contract has been award to Alexis Samuel at a cost of $1,640,487.65.
The Caico-Millet Road Project will involve rehabilitation of approximately 1,273m of road, inclusive of concrete drains, headwalls, metal grills (inclusive of double surface dressing) and concrete pavements. That contract has been awarded to Andrew Jaganath at a cost of $1,402,285.39.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Port Services and Transport, Allison Jean in signing these contracts , expressed the Ministry’s thanks to the contractors who are undertaking the work at their own cost, and explained the need for rehabilitating and improving the roads in question especially in the face of climate change.
Said Miss Jean : “We in the Ministry have adopted the approach of building back better, because seeing the vulnerabilities that our infrastructure has sustained, after Hurricane Tomas, then the Christmas Eve trough, and several other rain events, we want to ensure that whatever infrastructure we build is resilient to the various changing patterns in the weather.”
The Permanent Secretary also appealed to the patience of communities that may not be receiving attention at this time, noting that the Ministry is aware of some of the difficulties being faced in some of these areas, and is working towards redressing deficiencies wherever they may occur.