There will be an unscheduled retraction of the Demerara Harbour Bridge for one and a half hours on Sunday, December 13, 2020.
In a notice, the DHB Corporation said the bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic from from 13:30h or 1:30PM to 15:00h or 3PM.
There was no explanation as to the reason behind the closure.
On Wednesday, a barge collided into a section of the High Span on the bridge causing it to come out of alignment.
However, by the following day, the repairs on the bridge were completed.
That had allowed the bridge to be opened for Thursday’s scheduled 1 o’clock retraction, in addition to facilitating the crossing of heavy-duty vehicles that were barred due to the damages.
Currently, a process is underway to ascertain the cost of damages to be levied against the owner of the vessel.
“We are still crunching the numbers for the cost of the damages. We met with the representative of the owner, identified the damages and once we have those numbers, we will reconvene with the owner,” DHBC General Manager, Rawlston Adams, said.
Looking to the future, Mr. Adams admitted that there is no singular solution to protect the bridge from a recurrence of similar incidents.
Nevertheless, he is optimistic the new DHBC Board of Directors will make a sound decision after examining their options.
