‘Progressing’ backwards to 1920

The Minister of Works has now decided at the last moment to change the structure from one of concrete to one of steel, although similar structures all over the world of far more complicated and multi-level interchanges are built of concrete and accommodate several lanes of traffic moving in several directions.

Since our local contractors have been putting up multi-storied buildings all over the country for several decades and more recently building marine drilling platforms designed to operate in several hundred feet of water and moved from one location to the next, I refuse to believe that none of them are capable of constructing a simple structure of either concrete or steel, to accommodate a few lanes of traffic and will remain in the same location ad infinitum.

Do we not have a multitude of overpasses around the country that were constructed by local contractors out of cement both reinforced and prestressed that have well withstood the test of time and heavy traffic on a constant basis?

Notwithstanding the fact that there have been instances of structures and even buildings collapsing and being blown away by a strong wind both here and in the Caribbean that were built by a local contractor. There are several reputable contractors available right here in TT who certainly have the expertise and equipment to construct a simple interchange/overpass whether out of cement or steel with no difficulty at all.

If the government is incapable of designing or constructing what is regarded as a simple project in all the advanced countries of the world, simply place the entire project in the hands of private enterprise and get the job over with in quick time.

Honestly speaking, at the rate that we are progressing backwards, by the time we get to 2020, we will be back to 1920 status or beyond.