Harmon to lobby for old harbour bridge to stay

Minister of State Joseph Harmon will lobby his colleague ministers and representatives of government to keep the current Demerara Harbour Bridge at Peter’s Hall, East Bank Demerara (EBD) even after a new crossing is built at Houston also on the EBD.

“Two bridges are better than one,” the Department of Public Information yesterday quoted Harmon as telling attendees at a function to mark the 40th Anniversary of the bridge, which was held at the Umana Yana.

But the man who built the bridge 40 years ago, engineer Joseph Holder, believes that Harmon will face an uphill task in persuading government to keep both bridges since he feels that the contractor of the new crossing will reject any such proposal as it will cut into their revenue.

“When the Dutch company made their presentation last year April, they said that the old one has to come down. The thing with that is not because it is old, it has nothing to do with old and I will get to that. The real reason comes down to profitability. If the new bridge has to make back its money in 20 years, it cannot do so by charging $200 to cross. People will use the old bridge and they won’t make their money. That is the long and short of it,” he added.

wait till he see the cost of maintaining two bridges