Speaking in the National Assembly on July 30, Minister of Public Infrastructure and Urban Development, Honourable Ian Patches Liburd, said that the government has to protect its investment in road infrastructure.
“We have taken a deliberate decision Mr. Speaker that where possible to relocate the lines from under the road,” said Minister Liburd. He said that this decision was made because it was not feasible to invest the sum of 69 million dollars into the refurbishment of the road, only to have it redestroyed to replace old pipes at a later date.
“We have taken the deliberate decision to where possible, remove those utility lines to the verges and thus avoid that occurrence,” he added.
Minister Liburd also noted that while the road is being built, the Government has identified and replaced approximately 12 kilometers of asbestos pipes because “in today’s world, we should not have asbestos pipes transmitting water.”
He said that initially an allowance was made for only 5 percent of this cost, however, “we have to estimate another 6.2 million dollars, to address these near eight miles of asbestos pipes that lie under the road.”
