Contractor striving to meet November deadlineThe Black Bush Polder roads in East Berbice, which were supposed to have been completed at the end of 2011, are seeing intense works after the last extension granted to the contractor. BK International, the said contractor, had written to the Ministry of Public Works last November asking for another extension to the April 4 deadline. But this deadline was missed. The new deadline is November this year.The US$6.6M (G$1.3B) project has seen several delays and residents, especially farmers in Black Bush,Harrison Barnes Jersey, are wondering if ever the road will be completed.Cement shortage and poor weather conditions were cited as excuses for delays to the completion of the project.April 2012 was the new date given to facilitate the installation of 80 pipe culverts, which were not in the initial design, along the 34.5 kilometres (km) of roadway. The project is 60 percent complete and the contractor will likely be on target if the new completion date is November.To date, the contractor has installed 52 pipe culverts, erected five concrete bridges and paved16.5 km of roadway. Currently, preparation works are ongoing to construct another 14 km.The area is a mainly a farming one,China Jerseys NFL, with rice and cash crops the mainstay of many families.During a visit to the region on April 5,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, President Donald Ramotar and Minister of Works, Robeson Benn toured the Black Bush Polder Road to inspect the ongoing works. Later that day, at a press conference,Discount Football Jerseys, Ramotar announced that the contractor would not be able to meet the April 4 deadline, but assured “they [the contractors] are working very hard to catch up…and we looked at some areas where remedial works had to be done”. “It (the road) should have been completed yesterday (April 4) — that was the original schedule,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, but I’ve seen they have revised the finishing time for the road to November this year…so I am very optimistic they will finish the extension this November and we hope that this will be a very good road for the people of Black Bush and I will check it back in November”.Benn blamed the inclement weather and a modification in the design of the road on the delays. He added that there had to be a one-metre widening of the road,Cheap Jerseys 2018, since considerations were made for passage of trucks.During a visit to the Lesbeholden Polder in Black Bush this past week, Kaieteur News observed men working on the road. Some machines were parked along the roadway while some were in operation. Sand-filling was being done to some sections, while widening seemed to be in progress on another section.Kaieteur News visited BK International’s Tarlogie Processing Plant on the Corentyne to have some updated information on the road project but Operations Manager Lionel Kandasammy was not in office. Project Manager Julian Archer was also nowhere to be found and several efforts to reach Bridges Engineer Sunil Ganesh, proved futile.