Sinanan: Temporary solution to UBH depression

MINISTER of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan says the depression in the Uriah Butler Highway near Grand Bazaar has been temporarily repaired.

Sinanan told Newsday the depression was caused by a collapsed culvert under the highway.

He said the repairs were done on the night of August 12 and are being monitored while a permanent solution is being designed.

Sinanan said a permanent solution could not be implemented immediately, as this would involve closing a section of the highway, which, if done during the day, could cause traffic from as far away as Port of Spain.

“It would have been very chaotic if we had one lane. Traffic would have backed up all the way back to Port of Spain, so we had to identify the culvert and do some temporary remedial work. That work is being monitored every couple of hours, because we want to keep the road passable.”

He said the ministry acted as soon as it became aware of the issue and is continuing to work on it.

He said there are also tender and procurement rules to be followed, but he hopes the permanent repairs can begin in the coming days.

“A team would have gone down today (August 13) to do a full investigation as to where the culvert leads to, where it comes from, the size of the culvert, and to do a design for the permanent work. We're working to have all that completed today, to have a tender out to have the permanent solution and to probably start the work in a couple days.”

Sinanan said in order to minimise the impact on the public, the permanent repairs will be done during the night.

“It's actually replacing the entire culvert across the highway. This is a sort of major work, really, but that has to be staged and done in the night, because you can't work on the highway in the day, because what that will mean is actually closing off that section of the highway. So we'd have to put some alternative routes to divert the traffic to make sure that we have connectivity and have the work probably done from about nine at night until four in the morning, for a couple nights until it's completed.”

He praised the ministry staff for their quick response and said it was not “strange” to have emergency repair work done through the night.

“We try to have everything done in the shortest possible time. However, sometimes we're constrained by procurement laws and system designs and so on.

“So quick response is not new to the ministry. Sometimes people wouldn't even realise that we work throughout the night to make sure that the road remains passable the next morning. That is a normal thing.”

Sinanan said there were no accidents but, although the ministry responded quickly and worked through the night to repair the road, some cars might have been damaged before the ministry was able to get to the site.

He said anyone whose car was damaged by the depression can file a claim with their insurance company.

“I understand a couple of vehicles would have gone down (into the depression) and probably hit the undercarriage of the vehicle.

"But every vehicle on the road is supposed to have an insurance. If it is that there's a claim on a vehicle that you have, then you can claim from your insurance.”