Senior Reporter
otto.carrington@cnc3.co.tt
Central and local government officials are pointing fingers at each other over who is responsible for the collapsing Perseverance Road bridge over the Caparo River. The bridge was discovered to have developed cracks and collapsing on Wednesday evening.
The bridge is now closed to all vehicular traffic, without any certainty of when emergency works will commence, despite assessments being conducted by officials of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) and the Ministry of Works and Transport.
As a result, motorists became trapped for hours in snarling traffic within the borough, which also spilled over onto the Uriah Butler Highway.
Speaking to Guardian Media at the site, Member of Parliament for Couva North Ravi Ratiram, Chaguanas Mayor Faaiq Mohammed and deputy Mayor Melissa Jadoonanan were critical of Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan yesterday.
Ratiram argued that the three bridges in the area were in dire need of repairs, adding that the Perseverance Road bridge was the latest addition to this list.
He attributed the issue to a lack of maintenance by the ministry.
“There has been a failure on the part of this administration to clean the watercourses all the way out to the sea. There is no smooth flow or swift run-off, which compromises the bridges,” Ratiram said.
He added that the bridge was a main thoroughfare providing access to health facilities in Chaguanas, and insisted that businesses were suffering heavy losses due to its collapse.
However, Minister Sinanan said the bridge does not fall under his ministry.
“It’s easy for the MP and the mayor to try to gain political mileage from this situation. However, there is a process that needs to be followed. The Ministry of Works is on standby. Once a request comes from the Ministry of Local Government, we will provide whatever assistance is necessary,” Sinanan said.
He added, “The bridge falls under the Chaguanas Borough Corporation. The borough corporation should have been monitoring the situation for any challenges. The first call is for the borough corporation. If they cannot handle it, they are supposed to reach out to their line ministry. The line ministry will then contact the Ministry of Works if additional assistance is needed. We have not received any requests from the line ministry, which is the process that needs to be followed.”
The bridge facilitates traffic for many villages in Central Trinidad, helping to bypass the Chaguanas town centre.
Rural Development and Local Government Minister Faris Al-Rawi noted that no official request had been made to his ministry, and he could not recall seeing such a request.
“The mayor needs to ensure that proper requests are made. I can tell you that none of the corporations have fully utilised their Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) funds. I have not yet checked, but they need to make a proper request,” he said.
The minister added, “The corporation needs to hold a meeting to assess their budget. They must determine, for example, if they have $10 and the bridge costs $12, whether they need additional assistance, or if they have $10, have spent $4, and the bridge costs $6, if they can manage it themselves. They need to complete their due diligence.”
He continued, “Under the public procurement law, proper procedures must be followed. They cannot simply make a statement without taking the necessary steps. In an emergency, there is a process for triggering a tender, and it must be documented. All of these requirements need to be fulfilled.”
In response, Mayor Mohammed said he had sent a letter lobbying Sinanan for his intervention.
“Now that you’ve informed me that the minister is taking a hands-off approach with the Chaguanas Borough Corporation, I will send a letter to my line minister. I’ll request that he lobby the Minister of Finance to secure special funding for the Borough Corporation to repair this bridge. As I mentioned before, even if we pool all the corporation’s PSIP money, it still won’t be enough to rebuild the bridge.”