Small contractor having technical difficulties starting work on basketball court at Linden

– Lumumba

By Tamica Garnett

Presidential Advisor on Youth Empowerment, Odinga Lumumba, says that works have not yet started on the basketball court at the Mackenzie Sports Club owing to technical difficulties facing the contractor.

Odinga Lumumba

Responding to an article entitled “Works yet to commence at MSC Basketball Court,” in yesterday’s edition of the Kaieteur News, Lumumba asserted that the article was “unscrupulous” and the statements made by the Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA) were “very juvenile.”

He noted that in the nature of development the contract, that he estimates to cost around $2.5M, was awarded to a small contractor but subsequently the contractor reported a breakdown of his paver which has caused a halt in starting the project.

And while the contract does have a stipulated deadline, Lumumba said it will be unfair to take the contract away from its current contractor, without giving him reasonable time to correct his deficiency.

“We could have gone with a large contractor like BK International, and that would have been another issue with the region, but we went to a small contractor. So if his paver breakdown what are we to do, kick the guy out, he is a small contractor.

“We have to wait until the contractor is ready. If he gets ridiculous then we will have to another contractor, but we are not going to take the contract away from a small contractor just because his paver broke,” Lumumba maintained.

Furthermore, Lumumba said that while it is the government that has pledged funds towards the rehabilitation of the facility, the funds were allocated to the region in the 2010 budget, and therefore it is primarily under the authority of the Regional Executive Officer, who is responsible for the oversight of the project.

As such, Lumumba related, the government would only monitor the project by means of communicating with the REO, and he last spoke with the officials on Friday for an update.

Lumumba explained that according to his understanding, the contractor was allocated the contract about one month ago, and the work is expected to begin within the next few weeks.

Since the pledging of funds for the rehabilitation of the facility, according to the president of LABA in yesterday’s KN article, the stagnant state of the rehabilitation project has handicapped basketball as the “players have nowhere else to play other than the Central Mackenzie venue.”

However, Lumumba stated that since neither himself nor any officials from the region were contacted for an explanation, he sees the comment from Hamid as being “very irresponsible.”

Lumuba further said  that the article was political in nature, and it was aimed at censuring the government for making empty promises.

“That guy from the basketball association made it sound as though the government made an empty promise.

The funds were allocated to the region, the money is in the region. I don’t speak to the contractor, I speak to the REO. The matter is in the hands of the region, but the president (Hamid) never made a call, ” Lumumba stated.

“The implication is that Kaieteur News wants the government to take the contract from a small contractor to facilitate the Linden Association timetable.

The government will not do that because we believe in supporting small business and the Linden Association needs to be more patient,” Lumumba declared.