By Ryan Gilkes
An extra $5 million has been pumped into the ongoing Mill and Pave road programme, earning the gratitude of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Works Santia Bradshaw to her boss – Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
Following the announcement from Mottley on the significance of the funds, Bradshaw noted their instrumental role in addressing various road-related concerns raised by the public.
She said: “We’ve been working extremely hard with the contractors [and[ the oversight consultants that have come about from PESL to be able to accelerate this Mill and Pave programme. The additional funds will definitely help us to address a number of the additional areas that we need to complete.”
Acknowledging the current collaboration with two main contractors, the transport minister expressed optimism about the potential involvement of additional contractors in the mill-and-pave work. Despite the likelihood that they may not join before the end of the financial year, she praised the contractors for their round-the-clock efforts while emphasising the government was keeping up its end of the bargain with on-time payments.
Turning her attention to the challenges faced by contractors working on multiple projects, such as the road programme funded by the CAF – Development Bank of Latin America, and the Scotland District road rehabilitation project, Bradshaw gave an assurance that the administration is mindful of the overlapping responsibilities. She stressed the importance of maintaining momentum and utilising available resources effectively.
The deputy prime minister said: “I’m hopeful that there will be other contractors who can do mill-and-pave work coming on strong very shortly. They may not come on stream before the end of this financial year. But I think the two that we have at present have been working around the clock to be able to deliver on the roads that they have been given.
“And we certainly have been trying to make sure that they are paid on time and that they are facilitated as much as possible to be able to allow them to continue to do the road works programme … what I’m mindful of is that some of these same contractors also have to work on some of the other projects as well.
“So whether it is a CAF programme or if it is the Scotland District road rehabilitation project, it is the same contractors that are being asked or tasked with having to carry out those works. But at this point, I think we are where we need to be. We are pushing as I said to be able to keep the momentum going. And I think so far we have been doing as best as we can with the resources that we have available to us.”
Reflecting on her experience as the former minister for the Barbados Water Authority, which is now being overseen by Prime Minister Mottley, Bradshaw identified an opportune moment to address major issues within the authority. She stressed the need for restructuring the BWA to handle countrywide water challenges and highlighted the limitations posed by long-standing resource constraints.
Bradshaw told Barbados TODAY: “It is not an easy task for BWA to replace mains and in some cases to do the repairs that are necessary across the country given that the resources that have been made available to it have not really changed dramatically over the course of the last decades. There’s a lot of restructuring that still has to be done. We were in the process of doing that over the last year and a number of changes had to be made in order to facilitate that.
“But we have to make the Barbados Water Authority in essence ready for the times that are ahead and ready for the current times as well. Where we have to outsource, I think a decision has been taken that we will have to go outside of BWA. We will also have to be able to increase capacity by going outside of the country in terms of the region and internationally to beef up the resources.”
Discussing plans for outsourcing and increasing capacity, Bradshaw said there were a number of partnerships with entities like Alphabet’s X Development, formerly owned by Google, and countries such as the Netherlands to bring in expertise in leak detection, water resource management, and staff training.
The deputy PM said: “We would have made contact with entities to [Alphabet] X for instance, who they’re working very closely with BWA now in terms of leak detection, being able to go into the pipes to actually see exactly where there are leaks and to be able to take corrective measures and we’ve been working with countries like the Netherlands who is well known for its focus on dealing with scarce water resources.
“We’ve been forming those partnerships to be able to get the best persons who are experts in the field to be able to give guidance to the Barbados Water Authority. We entered into relationships with Delph University, where again, we have been looking at retraining a number of the staff of the Barbados Water Authority, but again also bringing expertise from outside of Barbados to accelerate existing programmes for mains replacement as well.”
Bradshaw emphasised the interconnected nature of road and water projects, noting that the success of the road programme relies on effective collaboration with the BWA. She highlighted the ongoing collaboration, exemplified by the prime minister’s recent tour, as a crucial aspect of executing both programmes successfully.
“The truth is, I can’t do roads without water,” Bradshaw concluded. (RG)
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