News

Traversing the E.O LeBlanc Highway has gotten much easier as the Government of Dominica officially opened the newly constructed left lane of the Hillsborough Bridge for traffic.

The bridge, which was a major artery for traveling the west coast, was severely damaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017 causing restrictions to road users.

Since then, the right lane of the bridge has been used to facilitate traffic in both directions, which has proven to be dangerous for citizens.

At the opening of the bridge on Friday, February 25, Prime Minister, Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit stated that they are satisfied with the quality of work.

“From all reports and one can see the quality of the work shown here, and we are we are satisfied that the work is up to standard. And we are happy to be here to witness the final opening. This is costing us 8.9 million dollars but we realized that this is an important piece of infrastructure that we needed to reinstate here at Hillsborough,” Hon. Skerrit stated.

PM Skerrit explained that the rehabilitation of the Hillsborough Bridge forms part of the Layou Road Project which will overall improve access and ease traveling for residents of the area.

“So this will tie in nicely with the works we are doing towards the Layou Valley to York Valley Bridge. There is extensive work being done here. It’s really the construction of a new road financed with loan funds from the CDB and so we look forward to the completion of that section of the road. There are so many benefits to the Layou Road Project, for agriculture, tourism, improved communication, shorter distance to the airport for so many communities along the west coast. So there are a lot of benefits and so we and the residents are excited about the road,” PM Skerrit noted.

Meanwhile, Minister for Public Works and the Digital Economy, Hon. Cassani Laville gave an overview of the works for the project.

“We have constructed a retaining wall and we have extended the wing wall so as to protect the abutment from any type of erosion from possible flood events. So that is one of the considerations that we have made to add some sort of resilience to the project,” Hon. Laville explained.

Hon. Laville added that he is extremely pleased with the work done by the local contractor, as it means well for the standard of work for contractors in Dominica.

“I am extremely pleased with the type of detailed worked and investigation shown by a local company. As a Government we believe in local contractors. In this case we had tenders and a local contractor was awarded the work and they have proven to us that they have the necessary competencies to complete 8.9 million dollars of bridge work and not only that but to confirm our geo-technical considerations. So that is in fact very good for the local work force here and for the state of contracting,” Hon. Laville went on to state.

Member of Parliament for the St. Joseph Constituency, Hon. Dr. ADIS King thanked the Government for the significant investment of almost nine million into the constituency.

She noted that this investment at such a difficult time in the global economy shows that the Labour Party Administration is one that keeps its promises.

“I must take the opportunity to thank the Minister of Finance, our Prime Minister, because he saw it as priority even in the most trying and challenging times. The world talks about the covid-19 pandemic and how it has affected every area, but in Dominica it even has affected us more because we were just recovering from first Tropical Storm Erika which caused damage in this area and then Hurricane Maria, and then faced with global pandemic that is covid-19. Yet we were able to do such a huge project, an 8.9 million dollar project, in this area. Certainly it comes from a Government that keeps its promises to its citizens,” Dr. King noted.

Dr. King added that she is happy that the problems that road users face are coming to an end.

“This bridge will open access from north to south because it has been very challenging to travel around this area because you had to wait to use the bridge. And this has created small feuds and arguments between drivers and we have had accidents so I am very happy that this is finally coming to an end,” Dr. King added.