The Ministry of Works has absolved itself of any responsibility in the collapse of the Balandra Bridge.

’This has nothing to do with the Government. This falls wholly and solely within the domain of the private sector. And what happened is inexcusable and what was done was reckless,’ Works Minister Colm Imbert said yesterday as he dismissed statements by contractors Emile Elias and Winston Riley that the possible lack of inspection or maintenance by the Ministry of Works played a part in the collapse of the Balandra Bridge.

On Elias’ call to give the tare weight of the crane (weight without load), Imbert said, the ’registered weight’ of the crane was 50 tonnes. ’You have a bridge that is about 60 years old, which is rated at 20 tonnes, and a private contractor being supervised by a private engineering firm chooses, for some unknown reason, on Saturday afternoon when no one is around, to drive the fully-weighted 50-tonne crane onto the bridge. The consequence is inevitable’ he said.

’And, therefore, the comment about maintenance being an issue is nonsensical,’ he said, adding that he was very disappointed senior practitioners in the construction industry could be so reckless.

Imbert said there was no doubt in his mind that the contractor was liable for the cost of the reconstruction of the bridge. He said Government would be moving to recover the cost of the replacement bridge and all of the work that needed to do done from the contractor. And it was very expensive, he said, noting that another crane had to be hired to take out the crane that was in the river, among other things.

Imbert called on the players in the construction industry to do some ’introspection’. And, he reiterated that the operation of the crane on that road was illegal since it did not have a licence to travel on a public road as required by law.

Imbert said the maintenance issue did not apply also to the collapse of the Caroni Bailey bridge since the bridge was out of service and was in the process of being dismantled when it collapsed.

In the case of the bridge at Macoya, the minister said there was a torrential flood. A torrent of water came down the Macoya river and damaged the foundation of a 65-year-old bridge,’ he said. The bridge itself did not collapse because the Ministry of Works thought it prudent to replace it with another bridge that could carry the kind of vehicle loads associated with the modern era, he added.

’So again, maintenance could not possibly have been an issue,’ Imbert stated.