’The question the talkative minister of flooding and transport must tell us is when was the last time that bridge was inspected for its structural integrity, and what was the weight of the crane crossing the Balandra Bailey bridge.’
This was NH International chairman Emile Elias’s comment on the recent collapse of the Balandra Bridge and Works Minister Colm Imbert’s explanation that the collapse was caused because the contractor was not authorised to cross the old bridge with a 50-tonne crane.
Elias pointed out that a 50-tonne crane did not, in fact, weigh 50 tonnes.
’Cranes are measured by their rated capacity to lift,’ he said.
He said it was his ’guess’ that the crane’s tare weight was between 12 to 15 tonnes, which means that it was perfectly capable of crossing a bridge rated to hold 25 tonnes.
’The issue is: was the bridge inspected and able to carry the load it is designed to carry? ... He must show us the record where an engineer-he loves to use the word ’engineer’ all the time-went and inspected the structural integrity of the key members of that bridge, and what was the weight of the crane that was traversing the bridge.
’And if it is less than the rated capacity, then why did it collapse? Because of poor maintenance? Lack of inspection? That is the issue that Imbert must answer,’ Elias said.
He added, ’He (Imbert) seems to have time to drive up to Cleaver Heights and worry about retaining walls, which he doesn’t know anything about... But instead of doing his own ministry’s work, he is always trying to interfere with everybody else’s work.
’When was the last time he went under that bridge or sent an engineer and got a report saying the key members were okay, or the bolts were corroded to the point where they were not holding the bridge up at all...? Those are the questions we want before we start to attack a contractor.’
Head of Trinidad and Tobago Transparency International Victor Hart said they had been calling for the report on the collapse of the Caroni Bailey bridge (which resulted in the loss of one life) to be made public. He said the recommendations of this report (with respect to maintenance and inspection etc), if implemented, could well have prevented the collapse of the Balandra Bridge.
Joint Consultative Council (JCC) head Winston Riley noted that there were three collapses of bridges, ’unfortunately’ under the same minister. He said this showed that there was a lack of capacity in the Government for handling the kind of maintenance that is required on a routine basis.
