Residents of Ithaca, West Berbice who suffered flooding and losses to their crops and livestock when the sluice door collapsed at around 2 am on Monday felt it was as a result of negligence.
They told Stabroek News yesterday that the sluice operators had made several reports to regional officials of Region Five that the door was in a deplorable state but nothing was done to correct it.
John Moore, one of the operators confirmed to this newspaper that the reports were made and that the officials had promised to build a new door next year.
He said he had told the officials that “before next year the door would break away and that is exactly what happened.”
During his visit to the area early yesterday morning, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud was also informed that the reports were made and expressed disappointment at the officials and warned that such reports must be treated more seriously.
The minister also inspected the work that was done to the door to rectify the situation.
He also met with residents and listened to their concerns. Residents were promised that seeds would be provided to them to replant their gardens.
A source from the region said that about two months ago the region awarded a contract for maintenance work to be done on the door.
Moore also admitted that the contractor had repaired the door and that “we told him that instead of repairing the door he should build a new door because of the condition. But he tell we that the region said to fix the door because they would build a new door next year.”
The source said too that even after the repairs were done two months ago and the officials got the complaints they still did not make an effort to inspect the door.
The source pointed out that another contractor was given the job to fix the sluice door at Rosignol and when he checked and noticed that the door was rotten, he replaced it. He said that the same should have been done at Ithaca.
Regional Executive Officer of Region Five, Floyd France had told Stabroek News that the region has provided a “temporary stop-off while a new door for the sluice is being fabricated.” He had said that the door is expected to be completed by today but Moore said he doubts that is possible as the materials have not been acquired as yet.
France had apologized to the residents for the inconvenience as a result of what occurred and said the region tried to treat the situation with “urgency.” He said since the door broke regional officials have been in the area.
