Govt to engage contractors on timely completion of Thomas Lands project 

See full statement from the Ministry of Public Works:

The Ministry of Public Works has taken note of a video made by Former Member of Parliament Annette Ferguson, on the current state of Phase 2 of the Rehabilitation and Construction of Thomas Lands, an ongoing project measuring a distance of 600m.

The Ministry firstly wishes to state the contractual timeframe for the project is a Twelve-month period, from the commencement date of November 25, 2024. Therefore, the project remains within its contractual deadline and the ministry is committed to ensuring the contractor meets the required completion date- the end of November 2025.

Therefore, Ms. Ferguson’s claim in the video that was uploaded on Facebook on November 18, noting the aforementioned project has been going on for the previous two years is completely false.

Secondly, stakeholders in the project zone between Irving Street and Albert Street were consulted. These include The National Park Main Office, One Communications’ Hardware Stations, the Civil Defence Commission, Maltinos Sports Ground, the Transport Sports Club and Adjacent public and private facilities. As a result, only those from the aforementioned parties are allowed to enter the area while construction continues. All other vehicular traffic is expected to use the alternative routes in place.

Hence, Ms. Ferguson’s statement that incites drivers, cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians to traverse the stretch of road that is under construction is also untrue.

Unfortunately, sustained rainfall resulted in the completed compaction of newly placed loam and sand layers being saturated by water accumulated on the surface. As such the field density testing (FDT) that was scheduled to be done remain incomplete until the site dries sufficiently to correct and prevent further compromise of the structural works that have been completed.

Phase 2 of the Thomas Lands Rehabilitation and Construction Project is being executed by JKP Construction. Phase 1, which stretched from Albert Street to Queens College was done by the same contractor.