$35M Linden drainage network collapsing less than three weeks after completion

Less than three weeks after completion, drains built under the $35M drainage network programme in Linden are starting to crumble.

Residents of Danjou Road, Christianburg said they woke up Tuesday morning to find a section of the drain had caved in and other sections had cracked. “Since they were doing this work we told them that this work was not being done correctly, I don’t know if they think that because we are not construction specialists that we didn’t know what we were saying,” Claudette Haynes, a resident of Danjou Ally, Wismar said.

Businesswoman Fanita Small also told Stabroek News that she and others had shown contractors B&J a number of “grey” areas while the works were ongoing. “For instance, how they were doing the drain they were undermining my fence. We told them about it. They just throw some sand there and if you check it now the sand is washing away and my fence is now threatened,” she said.

A similar situation is developing at the Mackenzie end, where the drainage network on Republic Avenue is being done with some $41M of European Union funds. Sections of the road have become unstable. The works, scheduled to be completed more than two weeks ago, now hangs in the balance.

Along Republic Avenue, drainage works on one side of the road have been completed with concrete covers. However, several sections which had been back-filled with mud then cleared to facilitate the laying of the concrete drains have started to erode, threatening the integrity of the road and adjoining parapets. On the other side of the road, the problem is even worse as only a section of the drain has been completed.

The frontage of several business places are in a deplorable state as ingress and egress is a challenge for customers. A narrow, wooden, ladder-like bridge provides access to the business places. “They were to finish this drain how long now and till this day they can’t finish,” a businesswoman said. Another complained, “People are hardly coming over that thing to buy because they are afraid that they are going to fall into the drain.”

Residents also complained that water in the drains is stagnant and smelly. “The fumes here killing us. All the water is backing up because the drain is blocked up and it seems like they have no intention of completing this work,” a stall holder said. The integrity of the frontage of these business places is also threatened as erosion takes place whenever it rains.

When Stabroek News spoke with National Authorizing Office (NAO) Task Force head Felix Girard on Thursday, he said he did not know that the work was incomplete and that the drain at Danjou Road had collapsed. “If that is the case there is a defects liability period and the contractor would have to fix it,” he said.

In a previous interview, Girard had said that he was surprised that the local authorities were condemning the work as the drains were being built according to the designs provided by LEAP. He had also said that the works were checked twice monthly to ensure that they were done according to specifications.

The designs, which were done in the latter half of 2009, feature two-foot drains for the full stretch of Republic Avenue and four culverts through which the drains flow directly. Girard had said that bringing the drains up to the level of the road would have caused flooding.