KEVON FELMINE

Cab­i­net will de­lib­er­ate on the works need­ed to com­plete the Archibald-DeLeon High­way from San Fer­nan­do to Point Fortin with­in the com­ing weeks, says Min­is­ter of Works and Trans­port Ro­han Sinanan.

There are two main im­ped­i­ments to the high­way’s com­ple­tion and en­gi­neers have found so­lu­tions to both, he said.

Al­though the Gov­ern­ment of­fi­cial­ly opened the high­way last Oc­to­ber af­ter 13 years of con­struc­tion, there are di­ver­sions at two points. In Jan­u­ary 2022, 180 me­tres of the north­bound car­riage­way along Mos­qui­to Creek, South Oropouche, col­lapsed and the Min­istry of Works and Trans­port (MOWT) com­mis­sioned a study in­to the failed por­tion.

Mean­while, there is an in­com­plete por­tion of the high­way be­tween Vance Riv­er and Guapo where Na­tion­al Gas Com­pa­ny (NGC) pipelines cross the its in­tend­ed path. This means mo­torists trav­el­ling to and from Point Fortin have to di­vert on­to the South­ern Main Road for sev­er­al kilo­me­tres be­fore re­join­ing the high­way.

Sinanan pre­vi­ous­ly re­port­ed that the MOWT was ne­go­ti­at­ing a so­lu­tion for this with the NGC.

He told Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day that fi­nal ne­go­ti­a­tions were tak­ing place, and the MOWT should have a so­lu­tion soon.

Re­gard­ing the failed por­tion along the creek, Sinanan said a peer re­view of the study and so­lu­tion was com­plete and was now with the MOWT. Sinanan said the MOWT was now de­lib­er­at­ing the way for­ward based on the re­port sub­mit­ted and would de­cide whether the ini­tial con­trac­tor would car­ry out the work or if there would be a new ten­der.

“The peer re­view has been com­plet­ed. They have found a way for­ward, so very soon, we will be go­ing to Cab­i­net with the way for­ward, mean­ing with­in the next week or two, and we ex­pect work to start right af­ter that,” Sinanan said.

Af­ter the work is com­plet­ed, he said, Cab­i­net will de­cide if the high­way will ven­ture to oth­er ar­eas.