A team of officials from the Public Works Ministry is assessing the Kumaka Waterfront area as additional works to save the North West business hub may be in the pipeline.
The area had been sinking into the nearby Aruka River over the past three years and Region One Chairman Paul Pierre told Stabroek News last week that the team of officials was in the region last week assessing the area to determine what action could be taken to save the waterfront area from the nearby river.
He said that the Public Works Ministry does have a plan to redesign the area and according to him while residents have not been told recently that they may have to relocate from the area, ”if the situation continues they would have to move.”
Pierre said that he met with a concerned group of residents from the community several weeks ago and they had voiced their concerns over the situation, including works which were on-going at the time.
He said that the residents indicated that they did not believe the works were up to standard and Pierre noted that soon after those discussions, the revetment inclined further into the river.
He said that while the Public Works Ministry is handling the situation, the region is prepared to assist if works needed to be undertaken to save the area.
”Personally I believe the revetment could be done closer to the land and save the area because you have to remember Kumaka is on a bend along the river.”
A businessman at Kumaka told this newspaper yesterday that the Kumaka Market Corporation (KMC) wharf, where the North West ferry, the MV Kimbia, usually moors may be affected since the entire area in the vicinity of the wharf is being eroded.
However, Pierre stated that the area is not in danger, noting that if the need arises the area will be further strengthened.
Revetment works halted at the waterside community early last month for the second time this year after loads of earth which were packed into the area fell into the nearby Aruka River.
This newspaper reported that the private contractor who was contracted by the government to compact the area had abandoned the project amid protests from persons in the business community there that the work being done could not effectively solve the problem.
Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn, told Stabroek News last month that a team of engineers had visited the area to assess the situation after the ministry received reports that the soil used to backfill the area was slipping into the Aruka River.
Stabroek News visited Kumaka a month ago when work was in full swing and the workmen were compacting the area with earth.
Residents had argued then that the piles which were driven into the earth, were sunk to some 40 feet, but noted that the depth of the problematic area was as much as 70 feet.
The contractor had also tied the revetment to the support piles months after the revetment was built, and this was said to be a critical engineering flaw which would add pressure to the shallow waterfront.
Engineer Charles Sohan stated in the letter columns of this newspaper this week that the project should have been halted a long time ago, given the type of work being effected by the contractor.
“It is unfortunate that over 300 ft or so of revetment has already been completed and the Ministry of Public Works (MPW) did not recognize that something was amiss during its construction, although it was clearly evident to residents of the area that the design appeared to have serious flaws and the contractor was executing poor quality work as it progressed,” Sohan said in his letter.
He added that the misalignment of the revetment was indicative that a rotational and stability failure involving the piles, sheeting and anchorages had started.
The waterfront had been eroding for months. Reports are that some three years ago, when the country experienced an earth tremor, the business community at Kumaka observed sections of the land had shifted.
