– local review points to ministry errors
The Canadian company that designed the unusable ferry stelling at Good Hope on the Essequibo River has re-inspected the infrastructure and a report on its findings is expected to be presented shortly.
According to reports, a team from the engineering firm SNC Lavalin of Montreal, Canada, which designed and built the $574 million structure, was in Guyana early last month and carried out a complete examination of the facility to determine why it became faulty.
Stabroek News understands that the company was expected to present a report on its findings and recommendations to the authorities in September. However, this newspaper was told that the firm only recently re-started its operations after a vacation break.
Meanwhile, a report which was compiled by engineers Marcel Gaskin and Bert Carter, who were retained to review the structure, including recommending remedial modifications in order to bring the stelling into early, regular use, is with the Office of the Prime Minister. When contacted recently, staff there would only say that the report was not ready to be made public.
The engineers conducted their review with representatives of BK International, the company which built the stelling, the Works Ministry, the Transport and Harbours Department as well as persons from the Office of the Prime Minister. This newspaper was told that they were meeting fortnightly to discuss the design of the stelling, alterations done to it and possible solutions.
According to a source, during the deliberations the parties had a general view that errors were made by the Works Ministry in its construction of a ramp at the stelling. It was discovered that the ramp, which was supposed to be constructed at a certain length, was built shorter than expected. According to a source, for the current situation at the berth to be corrected, another hefty sum will have to be expended as remodelling of the structure would utilize a substantial amount of machinery and labour.
President Bharrat Jagdeo had ordered a review of the stelling, following charges by the construction company BK International that modifications done by the Ministry of Works led to its current state. The Works Ministry later denied the company’s claims. BK emphasized during a tour of the facility after the infrastructure was handed over to the authorities that it had completed the project to the exact design and specifications required of it and it was certified and handed over to the government as a completed project. The company’s head Brian Tiwari said that in its current state, the stelling is unsafe for use. Company officials said too that during the course of works done by the ministry, “significant other damage” was done to the structure. “Whatever the ministry has done here is a wilful act,” Tiwari had charged.
Company officials said a drawbridge which the ministry attached to the end of the loading ramp should not have been there as its placement and consequent lowering onto a docked ship would have affected weight distribution and led to the failure of the end beam.
