With a Cabinet paper on the stalled New Providence Road Project (NPRIP) presented yesterday, a press conference has been scheduled for Monday to announce the name of the successful Bahamian bidder to rehabilitate Harrold Road, Minister of Works Bradley Roberts told The Guardian on Thursday.
The project, due to start before the end of the year, is expected to cost from $3 million to $4 million dollars, it was previously announced.
The Government obtained approval to remove Harrold Road from the presently stalled $52.2 million NPRIP, in order, it was stated, to provide Bahamian firms, and Ministry of Works personnel the opportunity to gain valuable comprehensive roadworks experience.
Cabinet paper
Concerning the overall NPRIP, Mr. Robertsconfirmed that a Cabinet Paper updating Ministers on the status of the project was presented on Thursday.
The Free National Movement Government received approval from Parliament in October 2000 to enter into an agreement with the International Development Bank to borrow $46.2 million for the project, with the balance of the amount being provided through other sources.
On April 5, 2001, a contract was signed with Associated Asphalt, a United Kingdom-based firm, to design and build all works contained in the contract for the sum of $52.2 million.
The objective of the NPRIP was to improve the existing road network and alleviate the “negative impacts associated with traffic congestion”.
On November 15, 2002, the Government terminated the contract after Associated Asphalt went into bankruptcy on July 5, 2001.
‘Hiccups’ developed
On Thursday, Mr. Roberts said that while he didn’t want “to go into the details,” Minister of State for Finance, James Smith was dealing with a situation involving Associated Asphalt’s creditors.
He elaborated however, that “A hiccup had developed over a complaint with regard to the settlement of the creditors of Associated Asphalt, and the IDB had to ask him to have another look at the settlement, and this is what Mr. Smith is dealing with.”
Before the NPRIP project could resume, Mr. Roberts also previously noted, there were several other things that needed to take place.
He told The Guardian on August 24 that the Bahamas Electricity Corporation had to relocate a number of underground utilities.
Utilities removal
On Thursday, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Works, Khader Alikhan, said that in addition to BEC, BaTelCo and Cable Bahamas were still relocating their utilities.
BEC was presently working on the Market Street and Blue Hill Road corridor, he said, and the Works Ministry was considering relocating a number of fences and walls before the project resumed.
Mr. Alikhan said also that the MOW had to wait for approval from the IDB to release all engineering drawings of the project to the Argentinean firm, owned by Jose Cartellone, that met pre-qualification requirements.
“We can view the bid documents only after we receive approval or no objection from the IDB,” Mr. Alikhan said.
It was highly unlikely that the NPRIP would resume until next year because of its size, the large amount of corridors and international contractors that would be involved, he said.
Starting over again
Mr. Alikhan also could not state where road works would begin when the project resumes, but recommendations were expected to be made in the contractor’s proposal.
Following the termination of the NPRIP, the Government with the approval of the Inter-American Development Bank, revised the scope of the project to remove Harrold Road (Corridor #14) and carry out the work using its own resources.
It then engaged the services of the original design consultants, Halcrow Limited to complete the design of the NPRIP, the original scope of which included construction of 19 corridors comprising 15.1 miles of new road and improvements to 9.5 miles of existing roads.
Harrold Road details
The corroded Harrold Road thoroughfare is expected to be transformed into a four-lane highway, which is expected to greatly improve traffic flow on the increasingly deteriorating thoroughfare.
The Harrold Road Project includes:
* The reconstruction of approximately 1.5 miles of the existing two lanes.
* The construction of two additional lanes on the north side of the existing carriageway.
* The construction of approximately 0.3 miles of service road between Chapel Drive and Blue Hill Road.
* The construction of two roundabouts, one at Milo Butler highway/Bethel Avenue/Harrold Road Junction and the other at Yellow Elder Way/Harrold Road.
* The construction of drainage swales, ponds and installation of drainage wells.
* Installation of street lighting.
* Landscaping.
* Provision and maintenance of traffic management during the construction period.
By Tamara McKenzie, The Nassau Guardian
