Government has defended the use of an enormous amount of reinforcing steel rod now being used on retaining wall projects.

Members of the public have raised concerns about the stretch of road at the junction of Tribe Road Number Two and Middle Road in Warwick.

And a similarly complex mesh of steel is being put on a corner in Harrington Hundreds in Smith's.

Government did not answer questions on the cost of those projects although one industry insider estimated the Warwick project would be using around $30,000 of steel.

Works and Engineering Permanent Secretary Robert Horton said the Ministry had to ensure the safety of any wall bordering public roads.

He said the Ministry was taking significant steps to improve safety by cutting back the ground to improve sight lines and by constructing a retaining wall to ensure the stability of the cut.

The design was prepared by a local engineering consultancy using the Ministry's design criteria for structures bounding the public highway and was checked by the Ministry's own engineers and verified to be adequate, said Mr. Horton.

He said the design reduced significantly the risk of it becoming overloaded and collapsing. The design also reduces the likelihood that the wall will need to be rebuilt if development is done in future.

One Royal Gazette letter writer had complained that Government had a crew of about ten men on the job which was bound to be costing the taxpayer huge sums while another said little work was being done despite the massive manpower.

Mr. Horton said: "Installation of the reinforcement for the wall took longer than anticipated, as the design used smaller bars than desired due to the shortage of the preferred larger bars.

"This can give the impression that there is an excessive amount of reinforcement in the structure."

He said the rebar on the Warwick job had been sourced directly from a supplier in Florida.

And he said progress had further been affected by the illness of one of the senior staff on site. Work is now anticipated to be finished in May 2009.

On the claim that workers were not pulling their weight Mr. Horton said Government was pleased "with the commitment of our employees and the quality of their work".