CONTRACTORS HAVE started to remove the decking of the Sandy Gully truss bridge in the vicinity of Riverton Meadows on the Spanish Town Road as work moved into a critical phase, yesterday.
The contractor now says the bridge should be completed in four to five months, "if there are no unforeseen delays."
"Things are coming along well, we have been sandblasting underneath the bridge and painting the trusses at the top so we can see what needs to be removed," said Christopher Nakash, one of the directors of Nakash Construction and Equipment Limited.
"Now we are moving into another stage of the work with the removal of the decking of the bridge. Once the decking is removed, we will remove the steel beams and replace them with steel girders which will arrive early next month hopefully," Mr. Nakash said.
The bridge was closed in April of this year, however, work on it was delayed because of the removal of a pipeline attached to the bridge trunk by the National Water Commission (NWC), among other problems.
EXTORTION RACKET
According to an article published in The Sunday Gleaner, work on a section of the Sandy Gully Bridge, in the vicinity of Riverton Meadows on Spanish Town Road, was forced to a halt after contractors refused to pay up a monthly fee of $1 million to extortionists. This charge was vehemently denied by Mr. Nakash.
"So far, we have had a very good relationship with the community, there have been no threats or extortion attempts. That report was not true," Mr. Nakash said.
Vando Palmer, communications manager at the National Works Agency (NWA), confirmed that work has reached a critical stage.
"Member of Parliament (for St. Andrew West) O.T. Williams has been intimately working with the contractors and made it clear that there will be no support of extortion, and insists that there will be a fair day's pay for a fair day's work," Mr. Palmer said.
