TEN months after the National Works Agency (NWA) announced an ambitious plan to widen the Flat Bridge, the scene of numerous accidents over the years, it is still without a detailed design plan, funding or a start-up date.

The narrow stone bridge, which is more than three centuries old, and which serves as a crucial link between the island's north coast and Kingston, also appears to have fallen far down on the NWA's list of priority bridges.

In fact, the firm -- Hopeton Jones and Associates -- responsible for producing the detailed designs and estimates that would allow another 12 foot-wide lane to be constructed beside the existing bridge, was asked to push a number of other jobs ahead of the estimated $20-million project.

"(The flat bridge project is) very important. But you have to also face the reality that the cash crunch is on...and as it is now, we have quite a number of projects on the ground that we are dealing with," Vando Palmer, the NWA's director of communications, told the Sunday Observer.

"And so," he continued, "we have to be careful that we do not take on new projects and run the risk that these projects may very well start, but are stalled as a result of the lack of funds... or maybe you don't even get to complete them at all."

In January, Hopeton Jones and Associates presented the NWA with a feasibility study on the options for the bridge, but the agency requested that it submit a more detailed plan.

"I think that in all fairness to him (Hopeton Jones and Associates), we have also put pressure on him for some other things," Palmer said. "For example, the works that are now taking place on the Sandy Gully Bridge on the Spanish Town Road, which is now under repair.

"So we have put some pressure on him re that, because that was more of a priority to us than the Flat Bridge, given the fact that as a result of the closure of that bridge, the two west-bound lanes have been taken out of operation. So we haven't been spending much time on that (Flat) bridge. So in all fairness to him, maybe he would have been finished already had that not happened," Palmer added.

The firm, which according to Palmer, in January presented the NWA with outline sketches of the options, was expected to complete detailed designs and the workings for the additional lane on the Flat Bridge, with actual dimensions. It was also expected to provide the NWA with the bill of quantities, Palmer said.

"He was supposed to give us all of that. We have not received that yet from him," Palmer said, adding that the NWA expected the firm to get back to them before the end of the year.

On Friday, Hopeton Jones declined to comment on the issue, stating that he had been told to "go ahead" with the project.

But even if the firm is able to meet the NWA demands for a detailed plan, there are still no funds in place to get the project off the ground.

In January when NWA head, Ivan Anderson, announced plans to expand the bridge, he said the agency would secure the estimated $20 million needed to cover the project from the Ministry of Finance.

That plan never materialised, and it is unclear whether the finance ministry would be called upon again to supply the funds in the 2004 financial year, or if the NWA would identify alternative sources of funding.

Palmer said that Patrick Rose, the NWA's director of planning and research, was currently engaged in forecasting the budget for the new financial year, but added that he was unable to say whether the funds would be approved by the ministry.

"One of the main sources of alternative funding is the route of deferred financing," the director of communications pointed out. "But I don't think the minister of finance likes to hear that word. I think he wants to stay clear of deferred financing as much as is possible. So I don't think that is a favourable option."

But even when the designs have been completed and the funds identified, the project could still face further delays because it has to go to tender.

"Once you identify the funds and it goes to tender, you normally give it a three to four week-period for the tenders to come back, and then, depending on how they shape up, you then make a recommendation to the National Contracts Commission," Palmer explained.

"They either ratify your recommendation or they agree with your recommendation, and from there it goes to Cabinet for approval. When Cabinet does that, it then comes back and you sign the contract and the contractor now goes off to post bonds and insurance. That normally takes some time because they have to go through banks," he said.

"Some companies, depending on their standing with their banks, can get that within three to four weeks. Others might take a little longer time because they have to meet the requirements that the bank would put forward. So it really varies anywhere within a month to three months," Palmer added.

Based on these considerations, work on the Flat Bridge, the scene of 14 major accidents and 12 deaths between 1999 and 2002, will not likely start until well into the new year.

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