The government will have to come up with a total of $18 million to carry out major repairs to Prince George Dock, in which the total cost of those urgent and mandatory repairs, are estimated at over $6 million, while long term repairs are estimated to be over $13 million. This according to the Minister of Transport and Aviation, Glenys Hanna-Martin who said that “the Ministry of Transport and Aviation is now considering a means of raising the necessary funding to effect the repairs forthwith.”
The Transport Minister, who was speaking from the House of Assembly on Wednesday, also noted that the Ministry of Works is presently in the process of replacing one major bollard on berth 16 of the dock, which should be in place by December 2002 at a cost of $114,522.
Meanwhile, Minister Hanna-Martin said, the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association continued to insist that urgent repairs must be made to the Prince George Dock, to prevent unnecessary damage to cruise ships, which are multi-million dollar investments. In the event of an incident where a ship is damaged, she said that there could be wide-ranging negative economic consequences to The Bahamas.
The Transport Minister explained that the government contracted WSP Inc., a consultant firm from the United Kingdom to conduct a study of the Prince George Wharf and passenger piers, the report being completed in September 2001.
She said that subsequently, in 2001, an immediate safety priority maintenance study was completed, which set out the recommended maintenance works, assessing the urgency for carrying out the various maintenance works and the level of risk involved if the works are not undertaken.
According to Minister Hanna-Martin, WSP was asked to: Provide a single summary of the recommended maintenance works together with associated costs, provide an assessment of the urgency of carrying out the various maintenance works, and the level of risk involved if works are not undertaken, provide an estimate of the budget cost and construction period for building a new bulkhead wall in front of berths 15 and 16 to replace the present 40 year-old-wall, advise further on maintenance and possible replacement for the open deck bridge sections of berths 17 and 18 and provide estimates of budget cost.
Minister Hanna-Martin said that in July 2002, the consultants submitted a report to the government on investigations, site surveys, research work and general conditions of the berth face. She noted that they presented discussion and recommendations for navigation beacons, bollards and fendering.
“During the course of the field survey and investigations which was primarily undertaken to obtain information for the purposes of rehabilitating the navigation beacons, the fendering and the bollards, other parts and features of the cope and berthing face, which were observed to be damaged, were inspected visually,” she said.
The Transport Minister said a number of recommendations were made, including a sounding survey of the seabed at the berths, a sea bed inspection, inspections and investigation of copes, underwater inspections of the concrete skirts and sheet piling below to the seabed and repair of damaged cope edges, replacement of kerbs, repair or replacement of decks to bridge sections of piers and inspection and repair of bollards and fendering and the construction of new bulkheads.
“The report itemized repairs which were deemed to be of extreme urgency and those which might be carried out on a long-term basis,” the Minister said.
Both the Nassau International Airport and the Prince George Dock, represent the country’s lifeline, and infrastructural integrity of these facilities, has been neglected over the years, she said, and the current condition of these facilities is not acceptable and reflects poorly on the Bahamas’ national economic development.
“The neglect of these facilities has been symptomatic of a larger dysfunction in an approach to national development. The repair of the major runway and Prince George Dock are now imperatives that ought not to have been postponed and cannot be further postponed. This now places a challenge on the government to raise the necessary funding to effect these repairs, totaling potentially as mush as $39 million,” said the Transport and Aviation Minister.
