Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Lionel Wordsworth says that the contract awarded to CEMCO/SRKN’gineering in association with the UK-based Mott MacDonald Company for Consultancy services for the Hope Relief Channel was not in anyway negotiated and was awarded solely on the national competitive bidding process.
According to the CEO, CEMCO was always part of the original joint-venture bid submitted by the three entities to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board prior to them being opened on January 27.
According to the official website of the National Tender Board, two bids for this project with Reference Number 34/09 were opened on January 27. The first was from E&A Consultants Inc. and the second by CEMCO and SRKN’gineering in association with Mott MacDonald’s.
Following the opening of the tenders, Stabroek News had reported that two bids had been submitted one from E&A Consultants Inc. and the other a joint bid submitted by the SRK Engineering firm in association with MacDonald’s Construction Company. It had not been clear to Stabroek News at that point that CEMCO was also involved in this contract.
Meanwhile, Wordsworth in a letter published on April 3 said that following an evaluation process of the bids received, a contract was awarded and entered into on March 19, 2009. He emphasized that “at no time did the scope of works change or were negotiations carried out with consultants other than those who participated in submitting bids for the project.”
On March 19, Consultant Raymond Latchmansingh signed the contract valued at $56,416, 415 for this project on behalf of the companies at a ceremony held in the boardroom of the Ministry of Agriculture.
This contract will see the firm conducting various surveys in the area identified for the channel. These include the firm conducting hydrological and reservoir studies, hydraulic engineering and flood routing studies, hydrographic surveys, engineering and typographic surveys as well as geotechnical investigations, over a 16-week period. After the findings of these various surveys have been analyzed, work on the channel is expected to commence.
The wisdom of this construction has been much debated with several engineering experts saying that the construction is not the best option to drain the conservancy. However, both Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud and Wordsworth have said that the decision was made on sound technical advice.
Wordsworth recently in a letter published in this newspaper said that “technical assessment of the EDWC and its flow system by both local and international experts indicates that an additional outlet is required in order to improve its safety standards in responding to extreme storm events.” The CEO disclosed that Hydraulic modeling of the EDWC was carried out in 2004 under the Hydrology and Water Resources study for the Guyana D&I Rehabilitation Project, and further updated in 2005 by the Task Force for Infrastructure Recovery (TFIR), which provides analytical output from which recommendations were derived in improving the flow and discharge system.
Wordsworth disclosed that the final report from the Task Force for Infrastructure Recovery (TFIR) issued in 2005 and which was prepared by experts from Mott MacDonald, with assistance from local engineers as well as engineers out of Holland, recommended that a new outlet similar in size to the Land of Canaan sluice be constructed. This, he explained, is to evacuate a 10,000-year flood storm. He also disclosed that results in the Guyana Floods Geotechnical and Hydraulic Assessment of the East Demerara Water Conservancy, United Nations Disaster Assessment and Co-ordination (UNDAC), in February 2005 suggested the same.
This suggestion was supported by assessment done by the Guyana Floods Geotechnical and Hydraulic Assessment of the East Demerara Water Conservancy, and a team from United Nations Disaster Assessment and Co-ordination (UNDAC) Team, the CEO added.
He said that rainfall patterns and water-level recordings have indicated that rainfall water accumulation along the north/east section of the conservancy takes a much longer period to discharge through the eastern relief structures, thus the need for a new outlet to the Atlantic.
Even as concerns have been raised about the location selected for the canal, Wordsworth said that following these various assessments, works were recommended and started at Shanks, on the East Coast of Demerara, while an assessment was carried out at Nabaclis also on the ECD. He stated that historically, these outlets were utilized to relieve the pressure on the north-east embankment. He explained that due to agricultural and housing settlements in the path of these areas, it would require large investments with major disruption to reinstate such infrastructures as reported in the Task Force for Infrastructure Recovery, 2005 Final Report and the Conservancy Adaptation Project Document. Consequently, a new independent outlet has been identified for construction at the Hope/Dochfour location. As such Guyana Lands and Surveys established a three hundred foot wide reserve that runs from the EDWC to the sea wall.
He explained that all private property in the path of the reserve is being valued and that the owners will be compensated for them based on the present-day market value. In addition affected households and farmers will be granted house lots and farmlands within the Hope/ Douchfour area, Wordsworth said.
President Bharrat Jagdeo announced last December that the government would set aside $3 billion towards the construction of this canal. In this year’s budget, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh announced that $2 billion has been allocated towards seeing this project being started.
At present, when the EDWC is at a dangerous level, water from the conservancy is drained through the Maduni and Lama sluices. The water then flows into the Mahaica creek. This has caused catastrophic flooding in the Mahaica and Mahaicony areas in three of the last four years.
