Come May 31, 2011, the Roseau Valley Road Improvement and Maintenance Project (RIMP) will be completed.
Minister of Public Works Rayburn Blackmoore announced at press conference this morning that a “tremendous” amount of work has been done on the project in the past weeks.
He said that the drainage, which was not initially part of the plan, is almost complete.
“If you go to Laudat right now you will see tremendous work in terms of the installation of concrete drains… there was no provision initially for excavation work to have been done. What we have done is to widen the road and to make it safer … so we’re gonna have a final product that is going to be much more improved,” he said.
“Drain work is about 85 percent complete; we are about 75 per cent in Trafalgar area and the expectation therefore, is to have the project in itself complete by the 30th of April 2011. We will expect therefore to have the official handing over of the road to the government by the 31st of May. Why May 31? Because of course once we’re finished doing the road, the site has to be cleaned up and the markings etc. and of course we have to also ensure that they have guard rails installed in certain critical areas in the valley road,” he stated.
Blackmoore said that the RIMP project was initially under-designed and the government had to seek additional financing to be able to complete the road at a satisfactory level.
“The initial date for completion for the Valley road was last year August 2010. As we have said before and I want to reiterate … the road was under designed because we had to seek additional financing from the Caribbean Development Bank to get the road to the level that we want it to be. Because at the end of the day the tax payers of this country they gonna be repaying that loan so I think that it’s the government’s obligation therefore to ensure that we get it right the first time,” he stated.
He added, “You have seen in the recent past a tremendous excavation work in the area of Laudat and that was not part of the original design. When the project in itself was conceptualized and to the point when it was actually implemented, you would have expected further deterioration to the already compromised roadway, so that in itself created a need for additional excavation and additional installation of retaining walls going up to laudat.No provision was made in the first design for concrete drains.”
He expressed appreciation on behalf of the government for level of tolerance exercised by the public during the project.
post the road pictures, so the dispora can comment.
Drainage not part of the plan? you joking mister minister, how could you design and build a road in DA without the proper drainage? this is Dominica man, over 300 inches of rain a year sir. Drainage should be the first part of the road to be built. All I can say is WOW!
To be honest, Rayburn Blackmoore inherited this mess and has to see it through. Nonetheless when the contract was signed with the contractor from Trinidad & Tobago in April of 2008 ,with works scheduled to commence that May, they were expected to be completed within 1 year i.e. May 2009.The contract made provisions for drainage, retaining structures, road signage and safety barriers. So we are really looking at a delay of 2 years and we need to to do some serious soul searching as to what went so badly wrong in the planning stage and subsequent execution of this project. Over-runs must be horrendous and initial cost projections have become all but meaningless.
dominicans will get such plast in the skin by this labour party the will never know what happen to them
tony asterphan there master
bla, bla, bla , bla, bla , bla, bla bla, S… WHOLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!! here we go again the the sly fox brays again………………DUMBMINICANS LISTEN TO YOUR TEACHER.
RAYBURN BLACKMORE WE NEED YOU TO RUN FOR THE FREEDOM PARTY IN MAHAUT, AFTERALL IT S THE PARTY THAT TOOK CARE OF YOU ALL YOUR LIFE.COME BACK HOME.
interesting? Is seems hard to commend the work of the government eh?
nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh freedom party never was a party of guinea pigs darling ……its always a CLASS and classic of its own. let dirty foot stay where they are we do not want that…………………..
that road is a joke….they havent even finished yet and the parts they have already paved are delapidated,full of potholes, parts are sinking and the reflectors are already coming off…wht will it look like in 2 yrs??? value for money boy…
and what about work on the Morne Prosper road, which has ground to a halt?
Clearly these previous contributors have NO idea what is happening in Dominica. That road project is LOOOOOONG overdue and they haven’t got a clue. Yet they say Black morte government “working for you” to lie about another deadline . Shut up! What picture they asking for….
While Labour is working, the others are walking poopoo talkin pashi coco
Poule Coutouni
concrete drains still. in this day and age. this is wht’s causing the place to stink. we need sewer pipes and a waste water treatment plant. the place stinks enough.
how can a minister of gov’t have such a radical cut on his side-burns,,,, is their even a hairline,,, n e way blackmore we did not put u there to just tell us what date so n so will happen,,, it seems that is all u in the news for,,,, when is nightlanding????,,, soon,,, soon liat this n soon liat that,,,, and soon when we come to an agreement,,,, i must start calling u ‘mr soon come’
thats a goverment workin for you, however Mr Blackmore the work on the loub to grand bay road, why isn’t there any reflection lights there, this would enhance the road network much more, It was widened tru, for further safety the reflection light that place on the Rimp porject should be mandatory on all road projects as we don’t have street light along the network. Like to take time to congrat you guys for funding , thus improvin road network in Dominica
could you guys post picture of the road works that is being spoken about