Dear Editor,
I write to highlight a problem relating to the installation of a pump to provide relief from expected routine flooding. It also has reference to an INews article captioned, “Pump Station Being Constructed at Adventure”, Corentyne, of August 28. The article has also been in circulation under a chat group titled “Democracy Under Threat”. It is not clear if the article is meant to support a case that democracy is under threat by highlighting and exposing questionable projects and payments like this one and bad governance.
I am a resident of the Adventure neighborhood where the project is being undertaken. It has been ongoing for almost a year. It is a $800M project, that’s right, eight hundred million. Almost a year has passed and the project is half done; the photo in the article so verifies. Work is stagnant. There seems to be no hurry in finishing it. It was supposed to mitigate flooding in the Black Bush Polder area and Cookrite Savannah but being incomplete, resulting in floods earlier this year in surrounding areas. This is the area that was inundated by floodwater in May 2021 turning it into a large lake. Stabroek News provided extensive coverage of the flooding and also carried an editorial on mishandling of infrastructure projects and failure to deter cultivation in the Cookrite Savannah.
Engineers are of the view that the contractor executing the ongoing pump project seems untouchable and above law and scrutiny. Fifty percent of the job is not completed but 50% payment has been effected. The project is merely a hole with some wooded barricades as can be seen from the photograph. A building or structure has not been constructed for the pump and there is no evidence of a pump for the project. Judging from other pump stations work, the Adventure project is not even 10% completed, much less 50%. It raises some questions. Did the contractor receive an advance payment of 35% for the project? Isn’t the advancement payment 15% of the cost for such projects? Why would one company be favoured with 35% advanced payment? Where is the pump? What kind of pump was purchased and from whom? Does the pump meet the specification needed to alleviate flooding?
In an outreach about the project right after the May 2021 flooding, a representative of NDIA informed the surrounding communities that the project will bring rapid relief to flooding in the area. We are in September 2022. Is this the meaning of rapid relief? Then democracy is really under threat. The area and other parts of the Corentyne experienced flooding again earlier this year, destroying rice and cash crops. Government offered no cash grants or compensation to farmers and home owners. One year on, there is no idea when the pump will be installed and commence operation. Interestingly, late last year, the community was told that the project was delayed because of the need of some very high grade of sheet pile required for the job. What is seen at the project site is rusted old iron. One is left to wonder if this is the high grade of sheet piling that the project was waiting for several months to effectuate the project. Even the sheet piling themselves were mired in controversy regarding the contractor and the purchaser.
Stabroek News carried reports on discrepancies relating to the purchase. If fifty percent of the project is completed, with corresponding payment, then refilling the ground will amount to 100% completion. The rest of the $800M might as well be paid because it is not serving any purpose to mitigate flooding.
Sincerely,
Sarabjit Prashad
