By John Myers, Jr, Staff ReporterTHE CONSTRUCTION of the Bushy Park to Portmore segment of Highway 2000 is likely to miss its December deadline as a result of Hurricane Ivan, which pounded the island last week and caused widespread devastation.
Jean-Noel Foulard, project and branch director of Bouygues' Jamaican operations, said the dangerous category four hurricane has forced the project to be delayed by a month. He pointed out that while there was no major structural damage to existing road infrastructure, which is built to sustain wind speeds of up to 200 miles an hour, or the company's equipment, "We have lots of small damage due to water erosion... we have a lot of small defects which will take us maybe a month to do remedial work."
Hurricane Ivan swept over the island last Friday night into Saturday morning, ravaged houses, wiped out agricultural crops, destroyed roads and dismantled powerlines on its way to the Cayman Islands. Preliminary assessments indicate billions of dollars in damage.
ASSESSMENTS
The cost of the delay is not immediately available as Mr. Foulard said the assessments have not yet been completed. He noted that the company expects to recover the additional costs from its insurers. He said the company restarted construction work on Tuesday and was in the process of mobilising its workers to begin full-scale construction next week. About 1,000 local workers are employed on the project.
But as the developers attempt to complete the segment in time to meet the prescribed completion date, Mr. Foulard said they would have to "put more resources and equipment and to work longer hours, Saturday and Sunday." He said Bouygues may have to employ additional persons in the process of trying to move swiftly to meet the completion date, which is only three months away.
REPLACEMENT
The Bushy Park to Portmore segment, which falls under phase 1A of the project, is about 14 kilometres long and stretches from Bushy Park to the Mandela Highway. The dualised high-speed motorway will eventually connect to the Portmore to Kingston segment, which will replace the existing causeway.
The Portmore segment will involve the construction of a six-lane toll bridge across the Portmore Causeway and provides for upgrading work on the existing Dyke Road. This will connect with the newly-constructed Old Harbour bypass, joining Kingston with Clarendon and eventually expanding to connect with Williamsfield in Manchester under phase 1B. The total cost of phase 1, which covers a distance of 74 kilometres, is estimated to be US$390 million.
