By DENISE MAYCOCK 

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

ALL Bahamas Construction Co Ltd  has not received any money from the government in the past 12 months for the work it has done to date on the Fishing Hole Road Bridge project, which should have been completed by January of this year.

A $6.5m contract was signed under the Christie administration in December 2015, with a completion timeline of 61 weeks. The budget has now increased to $7m.

On Monday, Minister of State for Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson, and Iram Lewis, parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Works, met with the contractor Wolfgang Geiger for an update on the project. A team from the Ministry of Works was also present to assess the work.

Mr Geiger informed Senator Thompson that his company had not been paid any funds from the government over the past year and hoped that the matter could be resolved to get the project completed as quickly as possible.

“The bridge is finished in bits and pieces, we are assembling the bridge and putting it on, but still I put it back on the government to transfer funds because we have been a year without getting paid,” he told Mr Thompson.

Work is moving slowly, and there are ten workers on site assembling the bridge. Mr Geiger took Mr Thompson, Ministry of Works officials, and the press on a tour of the site.

Although the cultural village is nearly complete, there is still tremendous work to do on the installation of the bridge. The cultural village is comprised of booths for vendors, a restroom facility, and a fish cleaning station. Mr Geiger indicated that some adjustments are required and need to be approved by the government, including the necessity of a proper entrance road for vendors while construction is underway, and a location for the disposal of conch shells, among other things.

The contractor indicated that light fixtures had not been installed in the bathrooms due to previous thefts at the site.

Mr Thompson was satisfied with the progress made so far and noted that the government would work with the contractor to address the concerns and look at putting in additional items at the site.

“He told us his concerns and will we do our best to address those concerns, but we would like for him to increase the staff and get the job done in the shortest period of time,” Mr Thompson said.

Once the concerns are addressed, Mr Thompson stated that the contractor has indicated that they should be finished early next year, possibly by January 2018.

“We visited what is supposed to be a cultural village, and seen up close the bridge as it is going up, and so we are satisfied it is progressing. We will work with (the contractor) to ensure it is completed in the shortest period of time,” Mr Thompson said.

Mr Iram Lewis stated that the Ministry of Works is satisfied that all technical requirements are being met, and been assured that officials conduct inspections on a regular basis.

“There will be some adjustments along the way. We expect (the cost) to go up, but we will be able to justify whatever (changes) we will make to the contract. As you are aware, there are some additional concerns we must address,” he said.

With regards to safety concerns, Mr Thompson is advising the public to proceed with caution while driving in the area.

“We also want to address some of the safety concerns that have been raised. This is a construction site, and it is very important that the public is reminded they are entering a construction site,” he warned.

He said persons need to pay attention to the safety signage that has been installed, traffic cones, and the designated speed limit in the area.

“We want to reiterate to the public to obey all of the safety signs. Just in a short period of time, we witnessed the speed on which motorists drive along the temporary road. We witnessed persons overtaking on the road, and we want to send a strong message to the public that this is a construction site and we want them to obey the traffic signs. There are signs as you enter the area and there is a speed limit of 13mph,” he said.

Mr Geiger stated that the project cost is around $7m and he expects to remain on budget. “We can assure the public that we will do everything in our power to get the project finished as quickly as possible if we have resolved the issues we have,” he said.

Mr Geiger reported that 50 persons were initially employed at the site, but that number has dropped to ten people.

“At the moment, we are just assembling until the government can decide on how we move on to the cultural village, then we will have more people on site. At the moment it is not necessary,” he said.

The contractor also expressed his concerns about the safety in the area and warned that an incident could be “catastrophic”.

“The public has to be aware of the construction site here and to drive slower because people are working next to the road, and if a truck was to hit the concrete barrier, it could be a catastrophic event.”

The Fishing Hole Road is a narrow causeway connecting Freeport and West Grand Bahama. It runs through to Hawksbill Creek and is prone to tidal flooding, especially during hurricanes.

Two lives have been lost in the past when persons attempted to cross the flooded causeway.

The issue of flooding at FHR was first raised by young civic activist Caleb Outten, of Eight Mile Rock, who started the PUMP organisation in the early 1990s and initiated public protests and town meetings to bring awareness to the flooding problem at Hawksbill Creek.

Mr Outten called on the government and the Grand Bahama Port Authority to build a bridge, after bringing in engineers from the US to assess the area. Both the Free National Movement and Progressive Liberal Party administrations had promised to address the issue.