Carisa Lee
Reporter
carisa.lee@cnc3.co.tt
In November 2022, severe flooding caused the Manzanilla Mayaro Road to be damaged as water from the Nariva Swamp drained under the roadway at four locations before exiting into the sea. This destroyed the surface of the roadway and eroded a section of the embankment and road structure.
Now, according to Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan, these issues have been fixed as phase one of the road reconstruction is completed and phase two of the project has commenced.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Chief Technical Officer at the MOWT Marc Cooper explained that they took the necessary steps to avoid flooding and erosion of the roadway in the future.
“First we elevated the road to approximately 18 inches or 450mm high above the existing road, and then we would have installed approximately nine culverts and rehabilitated four of the culverts that existed previously,” he said.
Cooper told the media it was anticipated that once the water rises again it would go through the culverts and not overtop the road and wash it away.
“In addition to that, the foundation of the roads was constructed using a bolder bed, so there is some permeability that will allow water from the swamp to exit on the seaside, and there’s that somewhat of a balance that will take place within the migration of water between the seaside and the swamp area,” Cooper said.
He said what they constructed was resilient and should be able to take the effects of climate change for decades.
“The pavement alone will give us about between 30 and 50 years,” he said.
In addition, he said, the new road was well-lit with shoulders, which were not present on the old roadway.
Speaking yesterday, Sinanan said, “The first phase was five packages; we have different contractors doing different packages that would have been completed. We are now on the second phase that started where this one ended and goes straight to the Nariva bridge.
“Sixty-three million for these five packages, and they all came in within the budget,” he said.
Works on phase one of the project started in July 2023, and the minister had anticipated that it would be completed by February. He explained why that did not happen.
Sinanan said the Mayaro Manzanilla Road was located in a very sensitive area, the Nariva Swamp. He said it was a protected area, and there were limitations to how far they could engineer.
“We would have loved to raise that road four feet off the ground, but you not permitted to do that. We are guided by the EMA, the IMA, and all the different statutory bodies. We would have pushed it to the limit,” he said.
He said the area was designed in a way that keeps the flow of salt and fresh water balanced.
The ministry anticipates phase two of the project will cost approximately $55 million.
Sinanan said work on the Cumuto/Sangre Grande Highway is progressing, but the weather remains a challenge. He said it should be completed by the end of 2024 or early 2025.