The Ministry of Local Government is proposing to buy two 100-foot modular steel bridges. On enquiring about the location of these bridges, the Ministry's technical officer said there were no sites as yet; yet the tender document includes transportation and erection, for which the cost to Maraval or Moruga will be different. He explained: "That is an error—the bridges are to be stored for future use."

While the construction sector is in tears and Minister Winston Dookeran returned to Parliament with his begging bowl for $2.7 billion, taxpayers will find it incredible that the Government is putting away $50 million in bridges to nowhere. The People's Partnership's excuse could be that the People's National Movement was also guilty of such flagrant misuse of public funds.

What I find alarming is the inverse thinking of our Government; throughout the ages when people had a river to cross, they tried to build a bridge to unite the villagers on either side; they then sought the most economical design to cross that river. There are few 100-foot rivers in T&T, and probably none in Local Government areas; but Minister Chandresh Sharma's Ministry buys the bridge first, then goes looking for a river to cross. And in the process, which is very susceptible to corruption, the Ministry bypasses the Trinidad concrete bridge builders and the Trinidad cement industry, leaving hundreds of T&T workers and their families to go hungry. The PNM did that, too.

Apart from temporary Bailey bridges, all permanent bridges are designed for a specific span over a specific river or overpass; it's not like socks, where one size fits all—and Ministry officials should take note. The cost per foot is cheaper for a 40-foot bridge than an 80 foot bridge. Intelligent bridge design starts with the foundations; and while constructing the foundations there is ample time to make the bridge beams. How does Minister Sharma justify providing employment to foreign workers even as Minister Dookeran is failing to stimulate T&T's economy? Minister Jack Warner recently boasted about the St Helena steel bridge, but unless PURE can justify an imported steel bridge on economic grounds after an in-depth feasibility analysis, suspicions of corruption will arise.

Both the St Helena bridge and the new Caroni "silver" bridge were supplied by Mabey and Johnson Ltd, which was the subject of investigations by the UK Serious Fraud Office. A law report as recent as January 19, 2012, contains this excerpt: "Following an SFO investigation, M&J pleaded guilty to charges of corruption... in September 2009 (both in respect of the Iraqi contracts and other acts of impropriety in Jamaica and Ghana). Two of M&J's former directors and a sales manager have since been convicted for related offences."

Kamla Persad-Bissessar has pledged to deal with any corruption; instead of bothering with Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs's plane transaction, which she said was well within his authority, she should investigate this bridge to nowhere which betrays extremely poor engineering competence.

My information is that a conventional concrete design—foundations, abutments and superstructure—would have been substantially less costly for both St Helena and Caroni. The design and tendering, however, were skewed toward M&J. The Works Ministry should consider the design/build method for best value.

Michael J Williams

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