In under two years the People’s Partnership Government has forked out $3.9 billion on the controversial Debe to Mon Desir segment of the Solomon Hochoy Highway extension to Point Fortin. With 45 per cent of the highway already completed, Works and Infrastructure Minister Dr Suruj Rambachan is confident that by the first quarter of 2016, the $7.5 billion highway, which has been the Government’s biggest and most expensive project since assuming office 58 months ago, will be done.
By the end of March, Rambachan wants to open another segment of the 47-kilometre highway, that is, from St Mary’s Village in South Oropouche to Mon Desir, and Dumfries La Romaine to Paria Suites, which will ease traffic and shorten the driving time of motorists. The following month, the Mon Desir to Grant’s Trace in Fyzabad section will be commissioned. Last year, various segments of the highway were opened, including the Golconda Interchange.
The highway consists of a four-lane dual carriageway and 2.5 kilometres of two-lane roadway that will connect the city of San Fernando and the southern towns of Debe, Penal, Siparia, Fyzabad, La Brea and Point Fortin. Rambachan said he had no doubt that the highway, constructed by Brazilian-based Construtora OAS Ltd, will bring social and economic development not only for the people of Point Fortin, but for communities and businesses along the south-western peninsula.
Among the industries that stood to benefit was fishing, Rambachan said, since the Government was expanding the port facility in La Brea. Also, the $850 million methanol to petrochemicals project being undertaken in La Brea, which is expected to be completed by 2016, will also serve as a catalyst for investors and growth in the business sector.
Highway to transform the economy—Rambachan
“The highway is going to transform the economy in that area. Also, the accessibility to the Debe UWI campus from Point Fortin will make education a lot cheaper,” Rambachan said. On Tuesday, Rambachan accompanied the Sunday Guardian on a tour of the highway, which spans from Golconda and ends at Dunlop Roundabout in Point Fortin. Rambachan was showed various stages of the work being done on the country’s largest road network.
He said the highway was being constructed in four phases. Once completed, Rambachan said, there would be eight interchanges at Golconda, La Brea, Mon Desir, St Mary’s, Debe, Penal, Siparia and Fyzabad. Also, seven bridges of different designs, five overpasses, six underpasses and ten box culverts will be built along the route.
226 structures to be built
“In all, there are 226 structures to be built. This is no easy task. All the phases are progressing at this time in different things. The one phase that we are still working on is land acquisition which is in Penal to Fyzabad. That’s why I am attached to the project, not to micromanage, but to ensure deadlines are met. It’s an ongoing project and is assured of its funding. So the project will be completed.” To undertake the task at hand, Rambachan said, a team of 1,571 local and 119 foreign workers had been hired.
“In other words, 93 per cent consist of local labourers, while seven per cent are foreigners. We are using a high per cent of professionals and skilled workers from Trinidad, contrary to what people are saying.” Despite facing some uphill challenges, Rambachan said, work was progressing “on time and within budget.” By the end of 2015, he expects the project to be near completion. Rambachan said the South Trunk Road, which floods during high tide and the rainy season because of its close proximity to the Gulf of Paria, would be repaved to increase its height.
Loads of grey boulders imported from Dominica, St Vincent and St Lucia by OAS have already been placed on the coastline to contain the waves. Also, the protective wall between the seafront and roadway would be raised, Rambachan said. Recently, Rambachan said, a contract was awarded to Danny Enterprises to stabilise the M2 Ring Road in La Romaine in the coming weeks.
OAS paid $2.97 billion
To date, he said, the Government had pumped $3.9 billion into the highway since work began in October 2013. Rambachan said the remaining $3.6 billion would be spent over the coming months.
“So far, we have [paid] to OAS for the design and construction expenses $2.97 billion, which includes an advance of $1.08 billion. So effectively, taking into consideration the advance, OAS is in line with the percentage of work completed. The total spent on the highway so far was $3.9 billion, which is well in line when you take off the advance payment for the per cent of work completed on the highway,” Rambachan said.
He said the biggest challenges OAS encountered since undertaking the project were the fire bombing of one of its cranes in Guapo last December, work being delayed by heavy showers, and protesters crippling the construction of the highway last year by shutting down 12 construction zones stretching from Point Fortin to Mon Desir.
Rambachan: Eyes are on you
They also had to contend with head of the Highway Re-Route Movement (HRM) and hunger striker Dr Wayne Kublalsingh who has been protesting the social and environmental impact of the Debe to Mon Desir route. Another constraint was sourcing bitumen and aggregate for the road-paving exercise. Rambachan described the project as stressful “as everybody’s eyes are on you. Everybody has great expectations. It’s a complex job. In addition to constructing the highway, there are structures to be built.”
In the past 18 months, Rambachan said, his ministry had to acquire lands on 420 properties which stood in the direct route of the highway. Of the 420 properties, Rambachan said, 389 landowners had been compensated and relocated. Cheques for the remaining 31 cheques are still being processed. Rambachan said of the 420 properties, 172 were legitimately owned; 86 were tenanted by Caroni 1975 Ltd; and 131 were squatters.
$434 million in land acquisition
So far, he said, Government had paid $434 million “in land acquisition.” Squatters who resided in Golconda, Dumfries, Ghandi Village, Guapo and St Mary’s were relocated to lots in Picton Village in the South, and each compensated $50,000. “In some instances, families whose lands were acquired were given six months’ rental by the State,” Rambachan said. Tabulating the relocation cost, Rambachan put the figure at $30 million. Giving a breakdown of the figures, Rambachan said the bulk of the $7.5 billion would be spent on the highway’s construction.
“The overall cost of the project is $7.502 billion. However, the cost of construction alone is $5.2 billion,” Rambachan said. The remaining $2.3 billion will be spent on land acquisition, construction contingencies and construction oversight. He said while he respected Kublalsingh’s views about the highway, one had to look at the “national good. We want at all cost to protect the environment.” He said while the HRM was against the highway, many people were in support of it.
In 2012, Wayne Kublalsingh joined the revamped Highway Re-Route Movement (HRM) challenging the social and environmental impacts certain segments of the highway would have on communities, wildlife, families and citizens. On November 14, 2012, Dr Kublalsingh started a 21-day hunger strike which ended when the Government agreed to an independent review of the Debe to Mon Desir segment of the highway.
The review’s resulting report, undertaken at a cost of $1,000,000 and dubbed the Armstrong Report after the review committee chairman Dr James Armstrong, found there were some significant shortcomings in the project that needed to be resolved. Kublalsingh subsequently took the Government to court alleging the State had failed to abide by the recommendations of the Armstrong Report, even as various segments, including the Golconda Interchange, were opened.
Last September, Kublalsingh embarked on his second hunger strike to protest government’s failure to follow the recommendations in the report. But days later, the HRM suffered a defeat in their legal challenge, as three appellate judges failed to grant an interim order to stop the contentious project. The State, however, did not resist Kublalsingh’s application for conditional leave to appeal to the Privy Council. Today marks 165 days that Kublalsingh has not consumed food or water.
Last month, Kublalsingh said dialogue between the HRM and Nidco had totally failed, but the HRM remained committed to finding a way forward regarding the highway. Each party had rejected the proposals of the other. The HRM Optimum Connectivity Proposal was also dismissed by Nidco.