The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE seawall project at Smith’s Point in Grand Bahama has resumed and work is progressing well following the hiring of a new contractor two weeks ago.

Work is expected to be finished in about 28 weeks at the cost of some $4.2m, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance K Peter Turnquest who, along with Iram Lewis, parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Works, visited the site on Friday and met with the contractor for an update on the project.

“I am pleased to come and inspect (the project) today just to see how far we are progressing with the work. I am pleased to say we are now making positive progress with respect to this project,” Mr Turnquest told reporters.

Waugh Construction signed a contract with the government two weeks ago in Nassau after the previous contract was terminated in June with Smith’s Construction due to serious project delays and other issues about the method of construction used.

Smith’s Construction was awarded a $4.8m contract under the former Christie administration on June 24, 2016, with a 26-week construction schedule. The contractor failed to meet two project deadlines, leaving the community vulnerable to tidal surge, officials have said.

Ministry of Works inspectors had issues with the materials and the method of construction used and the slow pace of work, which were enough grounds to terminate the contract.

Mr Lewis, Central Grand Bahama MP, and an architect by profession was very happy with the work to date by the new contractor.

“I am extremely pleased where we are now as opposed to where we were then,” he said. “The contractor we selected… is working at full speed and we are happy with the timelines,” he said.

“The whole idea is to protect this settlement. We are working as best we can to ensure the project is completed not only at a fast pace, but at a very high quality where we won’t be concerned about washout moving forward.”

“It is going to be a well-done project, and we are fully confident we picked the right team to do the job, and the community would be pleased with the product,” Mr Lewis said.

Mr Turnquest, the MP for East Grand Bahama, said the government is also happy that the contractor has agreed to offer employment to residents in the Smith’s Point community.

“It is unfortunate that we had delays and as a result of issues already outlined. But again we are making positive steps now to get the project completed and are very excited about that,” Mr Turnquest said.

“As you know, this is hurricane season, and that is a paramount concern for us at this stage. It is important that we make the kind of progress as quickly as possible to secure and stabilise the site if we do have a storm,” Mr Turnquest said.

“We wanted to come and observe the progress and to get an update from the contractor as to where they are and the timeline before us. We are certainly pleased with what we have seen so far,” he said.

Mr Lewis said officials expect to meet with residents to give them an update on the project.

“We came to do our fact-finding, and we will talk to them about the timeline. The residents are happy to see that activity has (resumed) on the site,” he said.

Residents have had some concerns about safety during the construction phase. But Mr Lewis indicated that the area is adequately secured in the day and at night.

He stated that the new contractor has assured them that in addition to hiring security officers on site in the day, the site is secured by barriers and is well-lit in the evenings.

Contractor Godfrey Waugh said workers encountered “a lot of mess” left at the site.

Reinforcing steel bars (rebar) and other debris that was in the trench, and trees removed from the site by the previous contractor and left piled up on a resident’s property, boulders, and other excavation materials were cleaned up and removed.

Mr Waugh stated that they had hired a subcontractor to blast and treat the exposed rebar.

“We had a few challenges, but we are working through them. One challenge is that water intrusion in the trench is quite substantial and we have brought in submersible pumps,” explained Mr Waugh.

Mr Waugh is planning to employ ten additional workers on the project and is requesting applications, but will be considering applications first from residents in the Smith’s Point area.

Mr Turnquest noted that government would continue to update residents on the project as they have been doing previously through community meetings.

“We have a vision for this (project) when it is done, and we are talking to the contractor about making it a real promenade so that we can increase economic activity to this area,” he said.

“We are expecting and visioning a real transformation of this water-front such that it becomes not only useable for residents and provides a safety factor, but also gives the opportunity to spur economic activity in this area.

“We are looking at plans to see how we can alter it, but work within the budget. We don’t have the luxury of growing the project, but we will look to see where we can adjust the plan already in place to take in a little bit more of a user-friendly product to do things we would like to do.

“When the previous government came up with the plan for this, that was one of the things I mentioned. I had hoped they would have created areas where we can create vending opportunities for small vendors…to bring diversity in products and opportunity for residents to create their own little businesses. We will see how we can utilise this asset as best we can for the benefit of residents of Smith’s Point, Mr Turnquest said.