Georgetown: To ensure that the livelihoods of the residents of Buxton and its surrounding communities are protected, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) has installed a mobile pump to drain the area as works continue on the state of the art sluice.
Shortage of timber piling, coupled with irregular weather patterns has resulted in the delays. The $78M structure which was awarded to Colin Talbot Contracting Services, has encountered major difficulties including the delay in pouring concrete to complete the foundation in September due the bad weather. An access road was then completed to rectify the situation.
The structure which had a November 16 2012 completion date, also suffered due to a six week delay (July 18-August 31,2012) in sourcing the timber piles.
“The timber tanking piles were unable to penetrate the soil strata for the footprint of the structure and the consultant thereafter recommended driving of steel sheet piles which were later sourced”, stated Lionel Wordsworth, CEO of the NDIA.
The low demand coupled with high cost of the steel pile sheet has seen local companies being reluctant to import as the sale has been slow resulting in the product being left on hand. As such, the Contractor was forced to source the piles externally.
“Also, the Foreshore didn't allow for deep penetration of the strata to accommodate a cofferdam for the construction of the structure north of the sea defense…advice was sought from Sea Defense department and we have since been advised and we can now finalize connecting the sluice to the sea defense,” he said.
The communities were designed to have drainage through a pump sluice combination which has seen them suffer from flooding in the past, hence the move by the NDIA to have such a structure erected.
The erection of such a sluice according to Wordsworth is necessary as the existing sluice discharge box presently sits below the seawall and therefore suffers from siltation.
The new sluice is designed with a vertical lift gate which will allow for free flow discharge from the high level discharge basin into the foreshore. This will allow for a more efficient and reliable discharge from the existing drainage system.
The NDIA will continue to monitor works on the project and ensure that the community is not affected by this delay.
