Dear Editor,
In a SN article of February 8, it was reported that residents of the island of Leguan have observed that the contractor for the ferry jetty was using barnacle-infested planks on the upgraded jetty connecting the stelling.
A SN reporter who visited the Jetty, saw pest-infested planks which were installed on the upgraded Jetty. The reporter subsequently contacted the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MoPI) on the discovery but was informed that the old wooden planks they saw on the Jetty and which residents complained about were existing planks which were never removed because they were found to be in good condition. However, a further response was to be given to SN on this issue by MoPI but apparently none was received.
Barnacles are marine crustaceans related to shrimps and crabs and live by filtering particles from salty/brackish water. The planks on the Leguan Jetty which residents claimed were damaged by barnacles could not have happened since the planks were well above high tide level and hence out of reach to be infested by barnacles.
The damage seen on the planks was probably due to wood decaying fungus/ microbes which digested the moist cellulose from the greenheart (GH) planks. The moisture in the planks came from heavy rainfall on the island and not from the Essequibo River. The weakened cellulose fibres of the GH planks have therefore affected their structural rigidity and should have been replaced. Some of them however, have stood the test of time and were in good shape and were not replaced. The MoPI should therefore receive a credit for this as would have been stipulated in its contract.
In any refurbishing job it is extremely difficult to list every item of work which should or should not be done since much of the damage requiring repairs is hidden from the estimators and these only come to light during construction. Hence the need for a change order clause in any refurbishing contract to cater for these unknowns.
To prevent decay of the wooden planks and prolong their life, they should have been injected with a fungicide but unfortunately Guyana does not have a facility for such treatment as yet.
Yours faithfully,
Charles Sohan
