Major roadworks underway in 2023

Major roadworks underway in 2023

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A number of road construction projects are set to take place in several communities over the next two years, including the capital, according to Minister of Work and Utilities, Alfred Sears.

Sears said while they cannot say exactly how much the projects will cost at this point, the government is seeking assistance for funding from multilateral sources once the preliminary groundwork is done.

“Once the design is completed, the question then is money. We all live in the Bahamas, we know what the revenue challenges are. Fortunately for The Bahamas, there are a number of additional sources to the consolidated fund,” he said.

Bahama Mix, along with a number of private consultants, has been contracted to renew over 50 roads between 2023 and 2024 that have been listed on the Road Resurfacing Project program. The majority of them are main roadways, starting from the east on Joe Farrington Road, and on East Street South.

Officials indicated that there are plans for a thin overlay to be placed on Gladstone Road until construction for a dual carriageway begins in the next several months.

The minister added that both the International Development Bank and Caribbean Development Bank have shown interest in funding the project on Gladstone Road and other infrastructural projects which are expected to begin sometime mid-next year.

“The other mechanism is PPP,” Sears said.

“That is to have a developer who wants to put up the funds to fund it and then get the funds on over a period of time […] So once the design is completed, the question, as you will see with some of the other projects that we will discuss later. The question is organizing the funding and certainly with Gladstone Road we have already gotten very keen interest.”

Francis Clarke, Ministry of Works Senior Engineer, noted they have inspectors out at various sites putting together condition reports to determine the final budget, and once reconstructed, Clarke explained that the roads will be more durable.

“All of the road construction projects are going to be in accordance with international standards so it’s going to be at the standard of road projects like Tonique Williams-Darling Highway and other roads that were constructed under the New Providence Road improvement project that should have a life of 20 years or more […] you will see less potholes,” said Clarke.

Ministry of Works Assistant Civil Engineer, Bahiyyah Hepburn said that fixing the potholes is a monumental task and they have increased resources, but while workers are eager to finish projects and respond to complaints, issues with the shipment of supplies and heavy rainfall in recent years have created a backlog.

“A lot of times the amount of the areas, we have more than 200 areas (with potholes) and counting and I’m still logging more that are coming in […] We’ve literally patched over the past 5 months almost 2 thousand locations […] so that over 340 holes per month, and even then I still haven’t gotten all the information of where else that we’ve patched.”

“Just like how people gave issues getting cars and mechanical equipment all of that impacts our timeline, then you have again […] when we had to reduce the amount of patching and pothole patching is actually a very sensitive process in the fact that if one thing impacts the entire process you will end up getting more and more of a backlog,” Hepburn said.

She added that when water settles on roads, the base under the asphalt is weakened which leads to cracks and erosion.

“Pothole patching is actually still just a stop-gap measure until we can actually resurface the road so again, just like how everybody is riding the road I also ride the road and I apologize to each and every one of you for the inconvenience that you have suffered,” Hepburn said.

According to works officials, the islands Exuma, Cat Island, and Eleuthera are first on the list for road construction; and while work has started in Exuma, negotiations for works to begin in the other two islands are ongoing and works are also planned for Abaco and Andros in the future.