Work has stopped at Palmyra, Corentyne on the base for an Indian immigration monument which embarrassingly collapsed on Tuesday and questions are being asked about which government agency awarded the contract and whether the work was being monitored for quality.
Chairman of Region Six, David Armogan noted that during last year a public tender was advertised for the project by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure on behalf of the Government of Guyana. Armogan relayed that the tender was awarded through the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board. He stated that the region had nothing to with the procurement or awarding of the project. “The region has nothing to do with this project, only the site is in our region, it is completely funded, completely supervised, all the tenders were done in Georgetown… “ said Armogan.
Armogan further noted, that the region on numerous occasions attempted to engage the contractor’s attention. However, he said, the contractor claimed to have a contract with the Ministry of Public Infrastructure. “He’s been saying to us that he has to deal directly with that agency”, said Armogan.
Stabroek News contacted Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Public Relations Officer, Desilon Daniels, who after making enquiries, stated that the project is not from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.
Stabroek News also contacted the Regional Executive Officer, of Region Six, Kim Williams Stephen, who stated that it was not an issue she would comment on.
Touching on the sudden collapse of part of the structure, Armogan said, “When we would have expected that the contractor would have gone into accelerated gear to make sure the monument site would have been completed and the monument was installed and so before the 5th of May, now one of the major constructions there has failed and the entire thing has caved in…It means the contractor or whoever was contracted to do the work didn’t get it right or something else went wrong, however, it means there is a structural deficiency there, a structural problem and the contractor would have to do it back. I don’t think that contractor could meet the 5th May, we are looking now at later in the year”, Armogan pointed out. Armogan also noted that whoever is the supervising engineer for the project should also be held partially responsible.
The Chairman also noted that he is puzzled as to why the contract was awarded to a contractor all the way from Linden, when there are competent and experienced contractors right in Berbice, who would have also entered bids for the project. “This is the problem when you don’t select (contractors) based on their past record”, he said.
Armogan further pointed out that if a local contractor was selected, local labourers would have been hired and “the money would have remained and circulated within the region….the spin off from economic benefits would have been there”, Armogan stressed.
He said also that projects of such magnitude are not usually handled by the region and its tender board, noting that while the relevant ministers are involved and responsible, they never contact, inform or even seek advice from the region’s official when carrying out such projects.
He said when awarding a project, the most “responsive bidder” is usually selected. He explained, that “responsive”, in the sense that it means, the “person who got the machinery to do it, the money to do it, the capacity to do it and the know how to do it”, not necessarily the lowest bidder.
Armogan also said the he has never heard of the contractor that was selected.
When this newspaper visited the site in Palmyra Village, yesterday for a third time, the machinery was parked in one corner of the field. Further, no one was present on the site at the time. When asked about the way forward, the man who claims to be the Supervisor of the company that was awarded the project, Marlon Cumberbatch, said that, “I don’t know as of yet…When you see work starting back, you come and I gone talk to you then”, Cumberbatch told the reporter, after which he immediately ended the call.
During March 2017, Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, together with the Indian High Commissioner, Venkatachalam Mahalingam, had unveiled a sign board depicting the monument at the chosen Palmyra location.
Nagamootoo, during that unveiling ceremony, had told media operatives that $97 million had been allocated for the building of the structure upon which the monument would be placed. The US$150,000 bronze sculpture, the actual monument, has been paid for by the Government of India.
