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Work had begun on the five kilometres of the Manzanilla-Mayaro Road which was damaged during heavy rainfall last November. Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan said the work should be completed in the next five months at a cost of $7 million.
Speaking to media on Friday at the site, Sinanan said the project had been divided into five packages, three of which had been awarded to Carib Asphalt, Kallco, and Namalco. He said the other two packages would be awarded and start in the next two weeks.
He said it was the fourth time that stretch of road had been washed out, starting in the 1950’s, then the 80’s, the 90’s, in 2013, and then last year.
“We will be using the existing blueprint of the road and upgrading it to an extent. We have learned from the past experiences, and the engineers have designed something we feel could stand the challenges in this area.
"This is a protected area and there’s a limit to how much engineering work could be done, how high you could raise the road, etc. We have to protect not only the road network, but also the Nariva swamp, which is also the home of several protected species."
He added, “If you traverse this entire stretch, you will see there are no culverts. The Nariva Swamp contains 235,000 litres of water, and that water has to make its way to the sea. With the change in weather patterns due to climate change, we had to engineer to move that water. The road was built on sand and so once water gets under that, there will be damage.”
[caption id="attachment_1027860" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Minister of Works Rohan Sinanan, centre, and ministry officials speak with media at the official start of the reconstruction of the Manzanilla Main Road on Friday. - ROGER JACOB[/caption]
He said some areas of the road would have to be raised but only by 450 mm, so as not to starve the swamp and to maintain balance.
Programme For Upgrading Roads Efficiency (PURE) unit director Hayden Phillip said eight culverts would be installed at various points under the newly constructed roadway.
“In 2014 we would have installed three culverts, which are not now sufficient because of climate change. From the 23 breaches we had this time, we consulted with the IMA, did surveys of sea and swamp levels, and came up with eight areas where we have to put large culverts. We will also repair the original three. Between each culvert, we will make the bypass road a three-metre earthen drain which will collect water and take it to the culverts.”
The ministry said each culvert would be constructed of approximately eight culvert units, two metres in length, 4.1 metres in length, and 1.4 metres in height. The outlet end will be outfitted with riprap to control the flow of water towards the coast. Flap gates measure 4.1 metres by 1.2 metres would be installed at the seaward end of each of the culverts to prevent the backflow of water from the sea during a storm surge event.
Sinanan said several different agencies had to grant approval for the roadworks, including the Environmental Management Agency and the Institute of Marine Affairs, which took some time. He said approvals were only granted last week.
Sinanan said the materials used to construct the temporary access road after the flooding would be recycled and used for reconstruction of the new road.
“The entire roadway will be built with recycled material from the existing road that was washed out. All this material will be picked up and taken to our Agua Santa plant to be recycled and brought back as a stronger material. It cuts the cost, uses less material and there’s less quarrying.”
Phillips said each package was between one-1.5 kilometres in length. He said the unit planned to begin work on another five kilometres in a few months, and would continue to Mayaro.
The owners of Jr’s Seaside Villas said the roads had hampered customers coming into Mayaro.
“We traverse here once or twice a week and it’s not easy. We changed tires, the suspension for sure, our tires were bent. We can’t drive this road in a car. We have four two-bedroom apartments and we always used to have traffic on the road, so this is deterring people. The dust is also a problem.”
They said they were skeptical as to whether the repairs would take place, and felt it might be an election gimmick.
Sinanan said the roadworks had nothing to do with the election season, as the ministry had begun a massive road rehabilitation programme in January which would continue for the next few years.
 
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