Thursday, November 26, 2009

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Govt faces dilemma with traffic lights By JUAN MCCARTNEY ~ Guardian Senior Reporter ~ juan@nasguard.com : Seven months after Minister of Works and Transport Neko Grant apologized to the motoring public and promised "not to rest until the job" of fixing all the traffic lights in New Providence is done, the traffic signal system on the country's main island is still not fully functional. Although Grant gave several reasons for the signal network not being fully operational, The Nassau Guardian understands that one of the companies given an interim contract to do the work — HyPower International — may be owed money by the government. The other company awarded a temporary contract in May — Campbell Electric — has no certification or license to fix traffic signals. HyPower and Campbell were both awarded three-month contracts in May to share traffic signal maintenance duties. HyPower owner Matthew Williams refused to discuss how much money was owed to his company, but he said there were "some outstanding matters" that he hoped would be cleared up in short order. "No matter what is owed to us, I would like to point out that we have continued to work on the traffic signals," Williams said. When contacted by The Guardian, Grant said as far as he knew his ministry did not know of any outstanding bills to either of the companies contracted to fix the traffic signals. "We pay our bills," Grant said. Williams acknowledged that at least two of the traffic signals assigned to his company at major intersections have not been functioning properly. He said those lights need to be replaced altogether. He also pointed out that HyPower handles the traffic signals on Paradise Island and those signals are usually in perfect working order. Williams added that HyPower has a level-two certification in signal light maintenance from the International Municipal Signal Association (IMSA). Ishmael Campbell owns Campbell Electric, which handles half of the traffic signal network, yet does not possess any IMSA certification. Campbell said that as far as he was aware, no particular certification was needed to fix the lights. When asked what qualifications either company possessed to maintain traffic lights, Grant said, "I am not aware of their qualifications." "That would have been checked out by my technical people." Campbell said that as far as he knew his company has properly maintained all of the traffic signals it has been assigned. However, the traffic signal at Cowpen Road and Faith Avenue, which is supposed to be maintained by Campbell, has been off for at least three weeks. The situation has become so perplexing that even Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham is wondering why the network of traffic signals in New Providence is still not completely functional. "I invite the minister of public works to speak to it," the prime minister said in response to a question asked by Bain and Grants Town MP Dr. Bernard Nottage in the House of Assembly Wednesday. "I too am concerned about the non-working traffic lights. I would like to hear a public answer given." When asked by The Guardian about the situation, Grant said, "I think overall that we have made some progress. "You would appreciate that the traffic signals are (old) and that we continue to try and maintain them to the best of our ability. They are not where they should be...but we are working on a continuous basis bearing in mind that they are (old)." Grant added, "Very often you see lights in the flash mode. There are a number of contributing factors to that. The main one is that there is a mechanism in the lights that triggers when there is a power surge to prevent further damage to the lights." Grant also said the government is in the process of issuing a notice for "pre-qualified contractors interested in submitting a bid for the maintenance contract that we propose to issue." That contract will be a comprehensive three-year agreement that will include "ensuring that all the traffic signals are fully functional and are monitored to address any defects." Grant said the contract would also ensure "that the signal equipment and poles are cleaned, painted and well maintained; providing for temporary traffic signs and diversions for those periods that the signals are being worked on; and providing for 24-hour emergency repair relative to emergency calls, inclusive of motor vehicle accident damage and repair." "We have two interim contracts that we are presently using to maintain the lights," he said. "And this three-year contract that we propose to issue, I think will solve the problems in short order." As far as the delay between the expiration of the three-month contracts signed in May and now, Grant said, "there were provisions for the extension of those contracts." He also said the ministry is sending out notices to pre-qualified contractors interested in submitting bids for the maintenance contract "as we speak." Friday, November 20, 2009