A fuel tanker collided into the Demerara Harbour Bridge in the wee hours of today, rendering the critical structure that links the West and East Bank of Demerara “inoperable”.
The incident occurred during this morning’s retraction, which was from 01:00h to 04:00h to facilitate routine maintenance works.
“The Demerara Harbour Bridge is rendered inoperable after a vessel, MV Tradewind Passion, collided with the bridge. A joint team of Government and Private Sector officials, including Ministers, are on the ground working to restore normalcy in the shortest possible time. An assessment is ongoing to determine the full extent of the damage. As soon as this assessment is completed, the public will be updated,” a post on President Dr Irfaan’s Facebook page detailed.
However, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar told INews that the damages are extensive – even worse than the incident last month.
“It was damaged in a major way. This is not like when the barge hit [the bridge last month]. When the barge hit it, it was damaged bad but this is worst… I think it’s ten times as worst,” Indar related.
According to the Minister, repairs have commenced and are ongoing to bring the bridge back into operation but will take time.
In fact, he disclosed that the bridge will not be fixed for operations today due to the extent of the damages.
Nevertheless, Indar noted that after engineers fully assess the damages, a more reliable timeline for the completion of repairs will be issued to the public especially commuters who rely on the bridge for daily transport.
In the meantime, the Public Works Minister indicated to this publication that alternative arrangements to transport vehicles.
“We are working on that… We are looking at maybe barges [to transport vehicles across the bridge],” he explained.
Indar said a decision will be made sometime today and the public will be informed.
