Dear Editor,
I refer to your editorial dated August 17 on the subject ‘Supenaam Stelling scandal.
The Cabinet Secretary said that culpability for this fiasco has not yet been identified and that the taxpayers of Guyana will have to foot the bill for the repairs. I have no choice but to agree. The engineers hired by the government to investigate the failure agreed with an earlier letter I had written to SN stating that the failure was of a structural nature.
Guyana does not have an Engineering Act or a code of practice for engineers. GAPE had for years campaigned for this bill but the government adamantly refused to introduce same. If the contract for the engineering design of the stelling did not stipulate a requirement for liability insurance and similarly a performance bond for the contractor in the ICE Conditions of Contract, then you cannot hold either accountable for the structural failure. Both documents are difficult to obtain and very costly and would increase the cost of the project dramatically.
In addition the government made a cardinal error when the Ministry of Transport interferred with the ramp whilst the contract was still under warranty, thereby voiding the warranty work of both the engineer and the contractor. The ministry should have given a variation order to both consultants to design and construct the attachment to the ramp making the extra work part of the contract. I am surprised that Minister Benn who is a technocrat in the cabinet as well as a geologist made such a mistake.
Over the years the government has absorbed enormous costs related to numerous engineering failures that in my opinion, the previous government would not have entertained.
I feel these engineering failures would continue, and I am not ruling out serious potential problems with the controversial Hope Project that is expected to start soon. I have looked at the preliminary drawings of the proposed work on the ministry’s web site, and as an experienced engineer I am very concerned at certain aspects of the design and construction. Recently, in cabinet the Minister of Agriculture gave figures of nearly 4,000 cusecs combined drainage capacities of the LOC, Kofi and Cunha sluices, far exceeding the 2,000 cusecs required to drain the EDWC. If the figure of 4,000 cusecs is correct, then the Hope Project is not a requirement.
In view of the extravagant cost involved and some 4 years required to complete the project, I believe construction of the project should await the outcome of the election scheduled for next year.
Yours faithfully,
M Alli
