REMARKS BY MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND WORKS
HONOURABLE MARK VANTERPOOL
AT CONTRACT SIGNING FOR
CARIBBEAN DEVELOPMENT BANK LOAN FUNDED PROJECT
LEE ROAD, VIRGIN GORDA
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2016
2:00 P.M.

SAFER ROAD FOR VIRGIN GORDA

Greetings....

I join with the people of Virgin Gorda today in welcoming the start of this project on the island - the rehabilitation of Lee Road.

As many of you would know, Lee Road is that stretch of road in The Valley that takes you from the junction at Little Road near the gas station, over to the Town Bay Well, however the stretch of road that will be rehabilitated during this project, goes from the junction to the Catholic Community Centre.

This is a long awaited and much anticipated project for Virgin Gorda and today's contract signing reaffirms our Government's commitment to maintaining and upgrading our Territory's road network to ensure safe traveling for residents and visitors.

The Caribbean Development Bank CDB approved a $15.67 million loan for the Virgin Islands in March 2012, to help with rehabilitating the Territory's roadways, after the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Otto in October 2010.

The people of Virgin Gorda have been inconvenienced for several years because of constant flooding on Lee Road whenever there is heavy rainfall.

So today, I am very pleased to see the process towards the rehabilitation of this road being advanced to the stage of the award and signing of this contract and we are expecting to see the completion of this project within the next eight (8) months.

Contractor Mr. Anselmo Stevens and his team at Creative Builders, have been entrusted with works, which would include clearing the land; demolishing and rebuilding concrete box drains; reconstructing 650m of concrete road pavement; and construction of 441m of reinforced concrete box drains, 93m of reinforced concrete swale drain, a twin HDPE pipe culvert including manholes, construction of two (2) reinforced concrete box culverts and fabrication of metal gratings over box drains.

The contract sum totals One Million, Six Hundred Sixty Four Thousand, Eight Hundred and Fifty Five Dollars and Fifty Cents ($1,664,855.50).

In the meantime, several other projects have been either completed, are underway or are still to be awarded, under the CDB Loan-funded Programme.

To date, ten (10) contracts for works, with a total sum of $8,106,312.26 have been signed, for Engineering Consultancy, Planning Regulations and Construction Works. 

So far, we have completed drainage improvement and road rehabilitation works in Long Trench, Fortune Ghut, Palestina; road reconstruction and slope stabilization in Huntums Ghut; embankment stabilization and road reinstatement in Ballast Bay; installation of a retaining wall at Thomas Land; and drainage improvement in Parham Town.

Three other projects are underway: drainage solution and road rehabilitation in Greenland, slope stabilization and drain construction in Windy Hill and the construction of retaining walls in Nottingham Estate.

Two consultancy contracts were also signed: with Tira Green for planning regulations and FDL Consult Inc. for engineering works and project management.

There are three (3) tender packages currently going through the National Competitive Bidding process, via the standard local procurement procedures:

Horse Path - Drainage Solution with Road Stabilization and Rehabilitation;

Hydrology Study – Following an RFP, Cabinet approved seven (7) companies to provide bids; and Harrigan Estate - Slope Stabilization and Road Restoration.

As Minister for Communications and Works, I have pledged to do my best to ensure that our roads are safer for the motoring public and pedestrians and I am pleased with the progress that we have made towards this goal in recent years.

I thank our Premier and Minster for Finance Dr. D. Orlando Smith and his team, my colleagues in Government, the staff at the Ministry of Communications and Works, all of the contractors and their teams, who have worked towards the successful execution of these projects.

As a Government, we expect to see the timely and efficient completion of all of these projects, including this Lee Road component.

We thank you the public for your continued patience and support as we undertake these infrastructural projects and apologize in advance for any inconvenience that may be caused as we continue to improve the road network in the islands.

Thank you very much and may God continue to bless these Virgin Islands.