By Lesroy W. Williams Observer Reporter
(Basseterre, St. Kitts)”Two weeks ago, the Minister of Public Utilities, Earl Assim Martin, promised that the report into the fatal bridge collapse would be made available at a press conference that was supposed to be held one week ago. There still has been no word about the report. “We just recently have gotten a comprehensive report on the collapse of the By pass bridge. Mr. Mandesh Singh of Halcrow, who was one of the designers of the bridge, along with the our own engineers at Public Works, along with the contractors and the Director of Public Works have given us a comprehensive report on what actually transpired with respect to that bridge. Mr. Singh is expected to be here shortly and we expect that by next week we will have another press conference specifically with the issues pertaining to not only the bridge but the whole By pass road,” Mr. Martin said at a Nov. 13 press conference. The bridge collapsed under construction near the Sir Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw Airport. Vincentan national, Allick Toney, was killed and Guyanese nationals, Ian “Shatta” Warde and Murtland “Pace” Watterton were injured. They were working on the deck of the bridge when it caved in under the pressure of poured concrete. The work was dubbed the West Basseterre Bypass Road Project with the contractor being Professional Technologies (Anguilla) Ltd, and the engineering firm, Halcrow Group Ltd. The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) funded the project.
