Dear Editor,
In a report to the National Assembly on March 14, Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn stated that, “the Cummings Canal koker door was not closed at the turn of the tide for a second time in a year because of negligence by the operator and that the breach of March 13, had nothing to do with the strength or age of the koker door.”
What a travesty!!! The evidence showed that a number of wooden planks near the bottom of the koker door broke at their edges and forced the door to slip out of its grooves on the channel walls thus creating an opening for the river water under high hydraulic pressure to enter the Cummings Canal at great speed and flooding the people in the Kingston area and beyond thereby causing extensive damage to their properties.
The broken koker door wooden planks showed wear at their edges and decay of some of them which weakened their structural ability to withstand the water pressures imposed upon them at high tide level and they just succumbed under these forces. Regular inspection with adequate maintenance of this koker particularly its timber members which are exposed to decay hazards would have pinpointed and rectified these problems long ago but the City Council’s unwritten policy has been, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it as we don’t have the money. After all we are not believers in preventative maintenance.” So those responsible for managing the City Council’s infrastructures are just following its policies with dire consequences to the citizenry.
It may well have been as claimed by Minister Benn that the operator had not fully lowered the koker door which in any event would have caused river water to rush into the Cummings Canal at the turn of the tide and eventually jam the door against its grooves making it difficult to fully close as the river water pressure increased. In any case this could not have caused the planks to snap and be pushed out of their grooves if they were structurally sound and adequately designed. Therefore, this disaster has everything to do with the strength and age of the koker door. The operator may have been negligent in the execution of some of his duties but to nail him for this failure is beyond the pale.
Yours faithfully,
Charles Sohan
