Mr. Speaker, in keeping with prior commitments made by myself to keep the public informed, I rise, again, in this Honourable House today to address the state of our national highways and plans to address their deplorable condition.
Mr. Speaker, I begin by reminding the members and the listening public that there are multiple circumstances happening simultaneously that are contributing to the current state of the roadways:
- The $250 million dollar BELCO Capital Plan
- Phase I of the Government’s Water and Wastewater Masterplan
- Excessive amounts of rain over the 2023 calendar year; and
- Unreliability of the Asphalting Assets owned by both the Government and Private Industry.
I will go into detail point by point shortly but before I do, I wish to again apologise to the people of Bermuda and those who live here and use our roads for the condition they are in. While I recognise that words mean nothing without substantive action, just know that the Government has plans to address these issues.
Mr. Speaker, the first item that is contributing to the state of our roadways is the $250 million dollar BELCO Capital Plan. This project sees major improvements to the company’s underground high voltage electrical cable system that is intended to serve all Bermuda into the future with more reliable, safe and cost-effective electricity. When announced in 2020, it was intended for this project to last thirty-six (36) months. But with any major infrastructure project there will be unforeseen issues.
While I cannot comment on specific details of the project, it is advised that there have been delays resulting from supply chain issues, unavailability of specialised personnel and excessive rain.
Mr. Speaker, currently the BELCO trenching works on Middle Road in Southampton have been placed on hold by them until April 2024. However, it is intended for the company to restart in April with “pull hole” works on Middle Road in Warwick from Camp Hill to Belmont and hope to complete those works by end June 2024. As always and in conjunction with BELCO, I will keep the public informed as they progress. So, it makes no sense to pave this portion of roads until the pull holes are completed.
Mr. Speaker, the second item contributing to the state of our roadways is the Phase I of the Government’s Water and Wastewater Masterplan. The purpose of this is to protect our fresh water supplies and ensure that the sewage we produce is properly disposed of in a more environmentally conscious way for the Eastern parishes.
Specifically, this project saw the excavating of our roadways in Hamilton Parish, St. David’s and St. George’s to install new utility infrastructure pipelines.
I am pleased to say that there will be no more digging up of the roadways in these areas associated with this project. As stated in this Honourable House in July 2023, the new East End Water Facilities are operational with the remaining already installed pipes in the process of finalising connections and commissioning.
Mr. Speaker, just to remove any possible ambiguity. There will be no more excavating of roadways in St. David’s and St. George’s associated with this project. That however does not mean that if an underground pipe failure occurs, that Ministry staff or contractors will not repair the issues. It simply means, there will not be hundreds of feet in road excavating occurring at once.
With this said, the Ministry is now able to begin the permanent asphalting of the affected areas and I am proud to say that this has already begun…some portions even completed. Mr. Speaker, this can be seen on York Street in St. George’s where East End Asphalt Ltd. was retained to asphalt the roadway.
There are plans throughout the next fiscal year to asphalt Middle Road in Flatts from North Shore Road to Store Hill. Then Middle Road in Warwick from Belmont to Camp Hill and possibly beyond. In addition, subject to how the former works progress, then possibly asphalt Stokes Point Road down to Mullet Bay Road in St. George’s, then continue onto York Street. Thus, completing the connection to the new completed paved works.
Although Mr. Speaker, this brings me to the last two items that have contributed significantly to the present state of our roads – Excessive amounts of rain over the 2023 calendar year; and the unreliability of the Asphalting Assets owned by both the Government and Private Industry.
Mr. Speaker, like most other construction projects asphalting relies on two (2) things – adequate assets to help get the job done and good weather. Over the past few years, especially in 2023, the Government has not been afforded either of these.
Mr. Speaker, substantial rain has caused major issues in our road infrastructure as many members can attest. Last year, the Island received 77.37 inches of rain. The second wettest calendar year accumulation since 1902 according to the Bermuda National Weather Service.
Not only has this rainfall caused the postponement of paving as obviously, asphalt laying cannot be done in the rain. This increased amount of rain has created a plethora of potholes in the existing asphalt.
Mr. Speaker, adding to this issue is the unreliability of asphalting supplies and equipment. In this Honourable House and in the public domain, I have been extremely forthcoming regarding the state of Government’s asphalting assets as I detailed in my statement on December 15, 2023: Quote
“the Government’s physical assets are aging…In this case, the machinery that supports road paving works is also aging and therefore routinely out of service for repairs. The unreliability of these machines - the Asphalt plant and Asphalt Miller in particular - cause the asphalt teams to slow their production. Currently, both assets are out of service and have been for most of the year - awaiting repairs.” End quote.
Mr. Speaker, since that statement I can confirm that the asphalt miller is operational however, the Ministry’s Asphalt Plant remains inoperable.
So as the plant has been down, the potholes cannot be fixed by using Government asphalt. As such, when situations like this arise, the Ministry depends on the private sector to supplement – in this case, East End Asphalt as the other producer of bulk asphalt. However Mr. Speaker, for all of the month of January, their Asphalt Plant was also inoperable as it was down for regular maintenance.
Thusly, while the Ministry continues to grapple with the excessive amounts of potholes attributed to weather and lack of investment in years past, the asphalt producer in the private sector could not supplement.
Mr. Speaker, this resulted in the Ministry’s asphalting teams using bagged asphalt supplies to manually fill potholes. These bagged asphalt bags have to be purchased from private vendors who also only have limited supply on island. Whilst bagged asphalt temporarily fixes a pothole, it slows road repairs tremendously. When there is fresh asphalt available, approximately 1 to 3 tons per day of asphalt can be laid which can cover multiple potholes in a single day along a single road stretch. When using bagged asphalt, multiple bags are needed to fill one pothole and the asphalting teams with short supply of bagged asphalt could only accomplish a few potholes in a day.
Mr. Speaker, thankfully I can advise that East End Asphalt’s plant has now returned to service and is producing asphalt as of Monday, February 12, 2024.
Acknowledging that the Ministry’s Plant is still down, this week technical officers have met with representatives of the company to solidify production availability to recommence large paving works. As always I will keep the public informed as paving works begin.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, successive governments have not been able to invest the type of finances in maintaining our infrastructure that is required.
Mr. Speaker and Honourable members, at the beginning of this statement today I emphasised that Government has plans to address the state of our roads.
In the aforementioned statement on December 15, 2023, I detailed that the Ministry is currently in negotiations with Astec Industries – a leading provider of asphalt plants and paving equipment in the United States – to provide a new plant, replacement asphalting equipment and maintenance support.
In December 2023, representatives of the company travelled to the Island observing the process and the operation of equipment. At this time, the company offered training for our asphalt teams at their headquarters in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Ministry gladly accepted the proposal and last month fifteen (15) staff members received training on new techniques and applications to enhance the asphalt laying process. Training for the remainder of the team will be conducted on island.
The Cabinet will shortly consider the details of purchasing a new plant and replacement asphalt equipment from the company. Funding in this year’s Capital Budget has been identified and will be used to pay for the equipment.
Mr. Speaker in the interim and now that fresh asphalt supplies are available from East End Asphalt, the following works will recommence over the succeeding months:
- Accelerate the repairs to all potholes reported to potholes@gov.bm - (incidentally, 584 emails have been received and 533 have been addressed).
- Watford Bridge Joint Holes paving to complete that work.
- Collector's Hill and South Road junction
- South Shore Road at Henry VIII and
- The continued reinstatement of Harrington Sound Road, through Middle Road.
Mr. Speaker, I hope this update provides all with a clear understanding of the current situation and plan going forward. We are fully committed to addressing the dreadful state of our roads as quickly as possible.
Let me end where I began, Mr. Speaker, by apologising to all road users and thank the public for their patience and understanding. We will continue our efforts to advance the paving of our roads at an increased pace.
As always Mr. Speaker, I will keep this House and the public informed as we progress.