Since 2008, several requests to Guyana Water Incorporat-ed (GWI) to have a new perimeter fence constructed at the Central Ruimveldt Iron Removal Treatment Plant went unheeded, and as a result persons had easy access to the hazardous area.
United Earth Movers (UEM) Project Engineer Sattanatan Mahendran, while expressing regret at the death of ten-year-old Akeem Denny, who drowned in one of “backwash lagoons” at the site on Monday, yesterday said the firm did everything it could to secure the area. “We didn’t want this situation to happen and that is why we did all these things to secure the place. I want to say how sorry I am over what happened,” Mahendran said, while speaking to Stabroek News at the company’s Queenstown head office.
According to Mahendran, following GWI’s failure to build the fence, the company hired extra security guards to patrol the perimeter of the site. It also erected numerous sign boards and called in the police on several occasions. However, the trespassing continued. He said that when sections of the chain link fence were destroyed by persons attempting to enter the compound to lime and swim, it was reinforced. Extra cost, he added, was incurred by the company in a bid to enhance security. He said persons continued to trespass although GWI had issued warnings in the media for persons not to swim or venture there since it was hazardous.
Mahendran explained that the company was contracted by GWI to design and build an iron treatment plant at Central Ruimveldt. He said the contract stated that the site security was UEM’s responsibility and that the company also had to repair 35 metres of the 400 metres of chain link fence, to ensure that the site was properly secured. Damage to the fence was at various points.
UEM’s insurance company refused to offer an all-risk policy for the plant and equipment, because of the improper state of the fence. As a result, Mahendran explained, GWI told the company to send a quotation for the construction of a concrete block fence. However, when this was done GWI said it had had to get permission from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which funded the project. According to Mahendran, since then UEM has not received a positive answer.
The project is almost completed and the site is to be handed over to GWI in two weeks. In the meantime, the chain link fence is still is a state of disrepair, having been damaged by those intent on swimming in the lagoon. Yesterday, residents pleaded for the fence to be properly fixed so as to restrict easy access and prevent a reoccurrence of Monday’s incident.
GWI’s public relations officer Timothy Austin had said hours after Denny’s death that he could not give a comment as the area was under the control of UEM and it was the entity responsible for security.
A letter, addressed to Altaf Gafoor and Ramchand Jailal – both GWI officials – and outlining an investigation report and safety measures at the site was shown to this newspaper. It was dated March 2. According to the investigation report, 100% of the physical works had been completed at the project site and a plant operational trial was planned for Tuesday. The report said that because of the Phagwah holiday on Monday, only the security guard who is responsible for the storage bond was present.
According to the report, the normal procedure is to have another security guard responsible for the site and for warding off persons. However, that person was not at the site on Monday. Around 4 pm, the security official at the bond heard cries for help coming from the lagoon area and when he arrived he saw “residents trying to pump out the water from [the boy].” The report stated too that the company made a formal report at the East La Penitence Police Station and with the Ministry of Labour’s Occupational Safety & Health Officer – on the advice of GWI – the following day.
The company indicated in the letter that several warning signs were installed around the site but persons destroyed them and from July 2008 to present it has been seeking approval to construct a new perimeter fence to secure the site. The GWI officials were informed that the company engaged personal security to chase persons from the site and lights around the lagoon areas were turned off at nights. “Even though we took all the safety measures to protect the sites from the accidents, this happened. It’s very sad/painful for us,” the letter signed by Mahendran said.
UEM and GWI have since agreed to employ more security guards to protect the site.
Mahendran showed this newspaper another letter, dated November 1, 2009, which stated that although UEM’s plan was to hire one security guard, the additional ones to cater for the unsecure fence cost the company $2.7 million.
It was only in January this year, he added, that he wrote to GWI officials informing them that security firms were unwilling to provide services for the perimeter of the site because of the unsecure fencing and poor lighting facilities. According to a letter dated January, 18, 2010, the company employed two security guards on its own. However, over a three-week period more than 100 youngsters trespassed on the lagoon areas, either riding their bicycles or liming in the evenings. The letter said the guards were afraid to chase them since they were unarmed. The police were later informed. The routine checks by the police were no use, however, since loiterers returned to the area when the police vehicle left. In the letter, UEM pleaded with GWI to address the fencing issue before installed materials were stolen as had happened previously.
Denny, a resident of Kitty, was at an aunt’s house in West Ruimveldt (not far from the lagoon) when he was instructed to go home. No one knew he had drowned until word spread that an unidentified boy was pulled from the lagoon. His mother, Pamela, positively identified his remains on Tuesday. Residents had told Stabroek News that prior to the drowning there was a “Phagwah wash down” at the lagoon where children, teenagers and even young adults were swimming.
