Dear Editor,
During a recent visit to the Hope Canal Project (HCP) by the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee (PSC) on Natural Resources and reported by SN of July 13, Minister Ramsammy revealed that HCP will need an extension of the completion deadline of August 31. Although the HCP completion date will be extended, assurance was given that there will be no need to request supplementary funds to complete the project since they (government) have managed to stay within the $3B budget assigned to HCP.
No large Government of Guyana funded project in recent times has been completed on time and within budget, and HCP is no exception. HCP is unlikely to be completed and functional, ie capable of discharging flood water from the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) into the ocean as per its design in year 2014, as major complex works on its various installations remain to be completed. Other works not part of the HCP contract package but vital for the Hope Canal to be functional are yet to be designed and constructed. These include but are not limited to the outfall channel from the High Level Sluice Outfall Structure (HLSOS) to the ocean, tying in the abutments of HLSOS to the sea defence and EDWC dam to the abutments of the head regulator. Where will the funds for these additional works come from or are they part of the $3B budget?
It is to be noted that no major civil engineering project was ever completed in Guyana in recent times without the issuance of change orders, increasing project costs which have varied from about 7-25% or more. It is hoped therefore that the PSC is taking cognizance of this and that some time in the not too distant future supplementary funds will have to be sought from Parliament to complete the HCP proper under spurious excuses which would be contrary to the assurances made by Minister Ramsammy.
HLSOS will require 8 radial gates and these were to be fabricated locally. It became apparent recently however that the job was too complex for local firms to handle, and it has been decided that the gates will have to be imported.
This will evidently increase project cost and delay completion of HLSOS, and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority cannot say for certain the actual cost and delivery date for these gates and their accessories.
Relief of floodwater through the proposed Hope Canal will not eliminate flooding of the lower reaches of the Mahaica Creek. During periods of heavy rainfall in the Mahaica Creek catchment, the creek is unable to discharge the large volumes of water generated into the ocean quickly and safely, and so it overtops its banks at various locations, flooding adjoining properties. Con-currently, the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) catchment is also in flood mode and as a safety precaution some of its floodwater is discharged through the Lama and Maduni sluices into the Mahaica Creek making an already bad situation worse.
Restricting flows from the Maduni and Lama sluices into the Mahaica Creek (by building the Hope Canal) will reduce the floodwaters the Mahaica Creek now handles, but it will not affect the floodwaters generated by its own catchment to the extent that it will not overtop its banks and flood its environs. So Hope Canal or not the Mahaica Creek will continue to overtop its banks during periods of heavy rainfall.
Rainfall does affect construction progress and every knowledgeable contractor operating in the Republic of Guyana knows this, and anticipated loss of contract time due to inclement weather during construction activities has to be factored in with any bid. The rainfall pattern in Guyana during the past three years has not shown any exceptional trend and therefore weather will be a difficult excuse for project delay when poor project management seems to have been the cause for many of the slippages in meeting construction deadlines. In any case a request for time extension has to come from the contractor and he has to show just cause why it is necessary. Therefore time extensions by the government to contractors should not be given willy-nilly as would seem the case with HCP, and the penalty clause as laid out in the contract documents should be applied fairly and squarely on those contractors who have failed to perform in a timely manner.
Those found failing in their contractual obligations should also be barred from tendering for government contracts for at least 5 years.
Yours faithfully,
Charles Sohan