Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon said yesterday that taxpayers will foot the bill for remedial works at the bungled Supenaam stelling while the state attempts to recover the funds from the defaulters on the project.
He could identify no defaulter at this time, but suggested that those culpable will be pursued and made to pay for the inoperable state of the stelling. He was speaking at his weekly post-cabinet briefing and in response to a question on the issue; he disclosed that the burden of rehabilitation works would be on taxpayers.
Luncheon would not comment on the outcome of an investigation which was ordered by President Bharrat Jagdeo, but he declared that no view should be cultivated in the society that those who bungled the project will escape culpability. He said also that the Supenaam stelling is an integral part of the strategic development of the Essequibo Coast.
President Jagdeo ordered the review of the currently inoperable Supenaam ferry stelling some three months ago, following charges by construction company, BK International, that modifications done by the Ministry of Works led to its current state. The review was undertaken by two engineers who were selected by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds.
The Public Works Ministry has denied that it was to be blamed for the state of the stelling and said it was the Transport and Harbours Department that took over a facility “which was inadequate to handle the typical flotation as well as the arrangement to get on to the vessel for the heavy truck traffic from the Essequibo”.
Minister of Transport, Robeson Benn stated that the Ministry of Local Govern-ment supervised the construction of the Pomeroon/ Supenaam ferry stelling and later issued a certificate of completion to BK International even though the completed project had obvious defects.
The ferry stelling, now inoperable because of structural problems, was completed to the tune of $431 million of contract approved funds; an additional $17.2 million was expended by the Ministry of Public Works in modification works, Benn had said.
The modifications included a drawbridge and a pontoon, both of which Benn said were “absolutely necessary” because the ministry took over the stelling “with great concerns”.
The drawbridge was a major source of contention between BK and the Works Ministry, with BK saying that it should not have been attached to the loading ramp and Benn saying that the installation of the 1.7-tonne steel drawbridge was to guarantee the safe offloading and reloading of vehicles, particularly trucks.
