The March 2015 deadline for the completion of the San Fernando to Point Fortin highway will not be met as Works and Infrastructure Minister Dr Surujrattan Rambachan admitted that the $7.5 billion project will run into 2016.Nevertheless, Rambachan said drivers would be able to drive from La Romaine to Point Fortin by mid-2015.
Fielding questions during a tour of the project yesterday, Rambachan said: "From Point Fortin, you will be driving right up to Dumfries Road (La Romaine), both ways. It is just at two interchanges that there will be ramps while the interchanges are being completed."I would say that overall, we are up to 40 per cent to 42 per cent complete. Now we are proceeding faster because a lot of the earthworks are already done so it is now about putting on the surfaces of aggregate and paving."
Even the controversial Debe to Mon Desir leg will be ready by next year as the Brazilian construction firm Construtora OAS has already begun cutting the route. Up to yesterday the Highway Reroute Movement (HRM) protested against the construction of the highway passing through the Oropouche lagoon. It is also contesting the construction in court but work continues along the disputed segment.
"We did Golconda to Debe first, so we are now cutting from Debe right on to San Francique, which is where we are building the interchange to Penal."That also will be ready by next year. It is just one segment that would not be completed and that is the segment from Siparia to Mon Desir but all the rest will be available by the middle of 2015," Rambachan said.
During a media briefing at the Paria Suites Hotel, Nidco president Dr Carson Charles said negotiations were still underway with Primera Oil and Gas Ltd to cap several oil wells in the Siparia area. Despite several challenges on the project, he said Nidco was maintaining its budget.
"We are maintaining our budget of $7.5 billion for this project. We have set that as a ceiling and all who are involved in the project, including Construtora OAS, are aware of this. We are well on our way to completing our project within this ceiling," Charles said.In a presentation by OAS, the company said local labour accounted for 90 per cent of its 1,485-strong workforce. As work increases on the project, it said it was seeking to increase its workforce to above 1,800 employees.
It added that 85 per cent of suppliers were from T&T and many contractors had been hired to work on the project.Point Fortin MP Paula Gopee-Scoon questioned the equity of the OAS recruitment process as she said many Point Fortin and La Brea residents were still seeking jobs and asked whether small and medium contractors from the area were being considered for work on the highway.