Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn told the National Assembly yesterday that the Cummings Koker was bashed in by Tuesday’s high tide because of negligence and that it was not closed at the time.
He said “it was not closed for a second time in a year because of negligence by the operator,” while adding that the breach had nothing to do with the strength or age of the koker door.
His remarks came as he was speaking on a motion on the Restoration of Georgetown. The Minister also stated that prior to the incident the Town Clerk had said that they had fears about the strength of the door at another koker in Kingston and one at Riverview.
On Wednesday, Benn told Stabroek News that the Ministry has taken over the works to rebuild the koker and accused the Georgetown Municipality of delaying the process of fixing the door by not supplying the requisite materials.
He had also said that by yesterday they were hoping to have the new door in place but the makeshift door, put to hold back the tide, was still operating when this newspaper visited the koker yesterday afternoon. Benn later told Stabroek News that a decision has been made to “make a completely new door which meant that much of the work we did yesterday and the previous night was wasted.” Officials from his ministry and the City Council are working to make the new door, he added, while noting that the process should have started yesterday and is expected to last for two days.
Water flowed freely from the Demerara River through the koker on Tuesday swamping several streets in northwestern Kingston and causing losses to householders and others.
