Road paved this month back in disrepair
A section of the recently-paved road in Paraquita Bay on Tortola.
A section of the roadway in Paraquita Bay has reverted to a state of disrepair; mere days after the Ministry of Communications and Works underwent a road repair project in the area.
The damaged roadway is located a short distance from the H Lavity Stout Community College.
When BVI News visited the area this week, a portion the road was riddled with cracks and potholes.
A pool of green, murky water was also seen settled at the side of the road.
While at the site, motorists were noticeably manoeuvring their vehicles off the roadway in an attempt to avoid the potholes burrowed on the recently paved thoroughfare.
The Works Ministry completed the road project earlier this month.
The cost of the recently completed road project is not known. But, BVI News understands that government is using a portion of the Caribbean Development Bank’s $65 million loan to carry out the project, which is ongoing in other sections of Tortola.
Works Minister Mark Vanterpool recently described the projects as a ‘relatively temporary’ fix.
He said government plans to do a ‘complete design’ of the territory’s roads in coming months.
A section of the recently-paved road in Paraquita Bay on Tortola.
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Loan after loans….All Mark doing is f—— up our money doing s———, paving mud with no good asphalt..He bought some cheap equipment from China and they didn’t last…He just bought another piece of junk paver and it broke down coming off the delivery barge, imagine that!
The NDP promised us 19 miles of paved roads and all we got were potholes.
When will we accept that there is no competent road builder in the BVI. Like many things in the BVI we need to bring in expertise from overseas and stop giving contracts to unqualified locals.
YESS FACTS. from what i see in other places first you build a drain/run-off/proper gradient of road, then you properly pave
Watch the rest of the repairs wash away in the rain today!
My My My Paved the Road with a hard surface (Concrete)then put the asphalt on top of that…I am not a contractor but sense is sense you need a strong base first.
Apparently its time for the BVI to pay the piper for all its past and present transgressions.
Not everything in life is just greed and nepotism you jacks in this country. You burned your bridges everytime uou forsaked good people who had the skills and interest to put things in order just because they not from the BVI or you feel you can make a $100 instead of $10.
Great just like the rich greedy man you can take it all to the grave and all of us regular poor folk get to enjoy the mess you created.
so many engineers who worked on roads and electrical systems and all sorts of things in places like black africa you wouldnt listen to because they not from here which is just the excuse so you can keep your pockets full…..
you dont sell out a country just because you hVe foreigners working there in it and awarding them rights. you sold out the country by putting greed first and finding the lowest morally sound people to do business with.
good luck because plenty of people would help the bvi from overseas but you made it impossible to now,because of all your shady dealings you have to look over your shoulder to even tie your shoe laces.
You’ll get 19 miles of paved roads but they will be
crap. We need to pay quality experienced civil engineers to do it right. I don’t care where they come from. I do care about how my tax money is spent. useless in a few days. Did you expect anything else
THE QUALITY OF THE ASPHALT NEEDS TO BE CERTIFIED.
That is a major issue affecting quality which is being overlooked. Talk to Guyana about their response to that problem.
That is not to say that the above road was intended as a finished surfaced section of road. The surface seems as though it was only a temporary fix,or the aggregates in the mixture would not appear so granular and dispersed.
Johnny, asphalt does not bond to concrete.
WHAT A WASTE OF PUBLIC FUNDS
One week drive on good road is enough for me mehson. ???????????????????? Go Marky boy Go! Squander, waste no big deal. We got it like that. ????????????????
if you can’t get it right the first time……
not even a month and they want a motorcade thru potholes and sewage water
It was supposed to be temporary until…..watch and see the new ones well go the same way…….NO LOCAL ROAD BUILDERS!
Another case of forgetting (as usual) the 5Ps: Proper planning prevents poor performance. As much as it seems a good idea to have locals do the repairs, how can they possibly have the necessary experience in paving when there are so few roads in the Territory? Was there a design for the repairs? Did anybody survey the project to identify potential issues (e.g. drainage, subsidence etc?). Road paving is expensive so it’s critical to do it right. Seems like the same old same old here. Slap a couple of inches of asphalt (prob not tested to see if it meets any reasonable spec), and pay unjustified sums to a contractor with good good govt connections. The lesson will be repeated until it is learned, unfortunately at tax payer’s costs.
When are we going to stop fooling ourselves and face the fact that is right in front of us. THE QUALITY OF THE ASPHALT IS POOR!!!!!!!!!. Geeeeeeeez man what is it going to take for us to say the BALD HEAD KING is naked.Good asphalt also works as a water barrier. Where else in the world do you see plants growing in asphalt. As long as we continue to look to look the other way the results will be the same.
The asphalt is filled with mud that’s why it has trees growing in it but he is the king so no one can question him
Public funds are being expended so it seems only fair that the name of ALL contractors doing work for the public be published. Let the public know, and in the event of repeat poor performance under the same name, let there be a mechanism whereby they can be stricken off and not considered for future projects due to repeat non-performance. That would be transparency at work, no different from stores publishing the names and faces of people who repeatedly write bad cheques or fail to pay altogether for goods and services. The community has a right to know who they are dealing with.
Why is anyone surprised and then they’re in HOA complaining about agency oversight when this is the sh-t they will be wasting money on. I would really like to know how much was spent on this rubbish!
I’m glad that the CDB is involved with our rebuild because all the projects funded and managed by them have withstood all the disasters. That being said I hope that a full tender for ALL road works is put out and a reputable company from overseas is brought in to handle ALL OF IT! The locals will get trucking and other works but the oversight and management needs to be done by persons with a proven track record. They need to be bonded to ensure proper performance and quality works. It’s time we stop the political pandering giving away money for votes and favor and fix the f—ing place. People are losing patience and things will get royal around here soon.
If you don’t sort the infrastructure out in BVI with competent civil and telecoms engineering, very soon; you can say goodbye to tourism (except for some yacht charters) and to financial services. What else will the BVI do? Fishing and farming? There will be no flat and house rentals with that.
Most of these problems must be blamed on the public works department managers and engineers. But Mark must take some of the blame for not bringing in expert road designers and trainers.
Seeing this sh-t makes me hate that guy and NDP so f…. much. If you can’t do something F….right have the decency of removing your damn self. I can look at a youtube video and do a better damn job!
Since common sense is no longer common and the NDP blogging machine is out in full blast after they left us with NO CENTS well let me put in my 2 cents.
Since we all know that even before the storm we were bankrupt under this NDP regime. We are still looking for an over spend of some 40 plus million on Pier Park that a Jamaican took and peddle many of it to these political crooks in China and Asian Banks. Now they are hell bent on getting the same Chinese Companies to do the multimillion dollor airport to have more of our tax dollars to be peddled over there and back to wash it.
A Primere and his side kick crew gone with 7 million for an airline that we can’t find. Not to mention the unknown millions of unaccounted tourism dollars being spent to supposing promote the BVI but went into apartment home for a CEO in one of those islands close to Florida while some accountant in New York continue to funnel milliones on their behalf to companies for promotion with millions being peddle back. Imagine your main office is on Tortola but the accounting is done in New York, ARE WE SERIOUS ABOUT CATCHING THESE WINE AND DINING CROOKS OR NOT?
A cat. 5 storm may have blown out our windows and turned over cars but it also blew out your brain to have many of you here trying to protect a set of white collar t—– like this NDP Administration.
You all should know that after beating on strong infrastructure for a long time eventually it will become weak hence the results of our recent storm. Instead of the NDP Administration reinforcing our main infrastructure they busy masterminding how to thief more with the patch and go jobs we have received 7 plus years and counting.
So for the NDP blogging machine who can only say no matter what Fahie isn’t ready with his team and NDP will still win, keep saying it so you can convince yourself that they will win in your dreams but when reality hit many of you on election day, you will be $–tting your panties and boxers because come hell or high water the white collar crooks will be brought to justice.
Now that is my 2 cents so try to thief that.
They won’t be upset if they lose. They have the money in bank accounts far, far away.
The improved road section in the Paraquita (Parie) Bay failed and the proper fix for a failed road is complete reconstruction. Any other effort as a fix is a poor investment with the road failing prematurely again in a short period of time. It will not yield the level of road quality, service, rideability and return on investment desired; it is throwing scarce good money after bad.
A seal coat or overlay is not a proper fix for a failed road. The recent work in the Parie area seems like a temporary “skin patch”, for there were too many potholes to fill, ie, throw and go.
Moreover, the proper and complete fix for a failed road is to remove a) riding surface/top course, b) base course, and c) subbase course (if applicable). The subgrade, the lowest section of a road, should also be tested and stabilize as needed. Then the subbase, base and surface courses replaced. Further, survey work should also be conducted and road elevations adjusted as needed to attain proper drainage. Poor drainage is a major contributing cause of premature road failure.
Further, the roads in the BVI are used by a myriad of equipment. Consequently, the roads must be designed and constructed with the minimum cross section to safely carry the various wheel loads. Moreover, the hot mix must be at the right temperature and have the right design mix ratio {aggregate(95% and bitumen/asphalt cement(5%)}. A well-designed, constructed and maintained road should typically attained its designed life. Road construction is expensive; it averages about $1M per mile in many locales. As such, it needs to be done right the first time.
While this sounds right and wonderful until the sewage is removed nothing will work
Typically, utilities run either parallel to or beneath roadways. It is effective planning and good management to rework any needed utility(s) work, ie, water, sewer, electricity, telecommunications, gas, and drainage during a complete road reconstruction. In my above blog, inadvertently left out proof rolling ( testing for deflections under specific loads) of subgrade and base courses. Subgrade should pass proof rolling test before moving on to the base layer and so on,
Temporary fix my behind. Why waste money doing a temporary fix when you can just do the darn thing properly one time. It’s intended to be a permanent fix so when they get the other money they can pocket it. Just don’t make any sense. So sick of these politicians and their c———-ness. BVI please wake up a do something before these politicians run our country off the map.
See I said so on the article where it made news that MCW were doing what they termed a ‘temporary fix’. The entire MCW from the minister, ps and the other square pegs have been an utter failure and no one can say otherwise. These troglodytes have us (bvi society) crying out daily for a change but none of the incumbents have any iota of a conscious! Public funds are being wasted wantonly without any fears of accountability. The various government run departments tasked with infrastructure responsibilities are underfunded, undermanned and lack any viable long-term strategy. The PWD workers can see the poor quality of materials used and have no choice but to follow instructions or be persecuted. The best engineers can come and design but once political influence and interference is added to the mix – we can all look around and see each and every project completed (or not) within the past 20 years and evaluate their value today.
All those new shiny heavy equipment donated to the government will look like derelicts in a year or less time. The solutions are glaringly stating these plebs on the face yet they choose to do otherwise to suit their over-inflated egos! End result is no value for money in anything undertaken by these ppl.
A lot of this paving is a stop-gap….we all know that (or should). That section of road will NEVER stop sinking until many millions are invested in consolidating the water flow into two or three culverts and essentially building the whole thing into a bridge- as was done at Pockwood Pond 15+ years ago. We need the same solution below Towers. Stop blaming the NDP exclusively; NO party has been willing to spend the money on this although the issues and solution have been clear for decades! AAARRRGGH!!!!
Put a bandaid on it and call it a day.
Where is the like and dislike buttons?
I swear I cannot take it with some of you people. It happens all over… In the states they will fix a pot hole in the road and let some heavy rain fall or something and it’s back to how it was before the patching. It’s not a BVI issue so get over it
DID ANYONE ELSE SEE THAT ST THOMAS IS GETTING ALL NEW ROADS! ALL CONSTRUCTED TO PROPER AMERICAN SAFTEY STANdARDS AND PROPER SiDEWALKs THAT ARE HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE …..ALONG WITH PROPER SEWER AND WATER…….wake up BVI!!!!
Why can’t they just send these people at public works to get the the proper education and training
on how to to construct and build roads SMFH
You get what you vote for and the sad thing is the same people who are complaining now will vote for the ndp again despite their proven track record of failure.
Sloppy work! They added adhphalt without considering drainage. The’professions’ should have known better. I suggest that we push for the funds to repair it again be taken out of the permanent secretary and the project manager’s pay check. This might help them to be more mindful of the quality of their work as we have no $$$ to waste.
Bring in workers from St. Vincent to assist. They do great road, stone and brick work.
It’s time enough bvi get good road
Hello there 🙂
Anybody home?