Dear Editor,
I would like to address this issue regarding the koker at our port facility at Water Street.
1) When we purchased this property from the PNC government in 1991 there was an existing koker running through the premises. That koker remains present to this day in its present constitution. The dimensions of this koker remain intact. It was covered by a number of manholes, some of which collapsed over time and were subsequently relaid by us. We did not cover the koker, block it or build on top of it to expand our facility.
2) The koker is the property of the City of Georgetown. The city council is responsible for the full maintenance of it, not Muneshwers. Yet we dredged parts of it repeatedly and recently replaced an entire section that was collapsing with a concrete revetment structure, to the tune of several millions. If that section had collapsed it would have caused untold damage to the city. We did not call in the media for free publicity or score cheap political points as some are doing right now. We are also actively cleaning the sections of the koker that run under our property, with the help of our contractor, Kares Engineering, and under the supervision and support of the city council.
3) Recently a renowned contractor visited our facility unbeknownst to us and apparently made some critical insinuations that were not based on reality. We were not given the courtesy of being able to represent our side of the story. Later, I spoke to him and he was adamant that he was not blaming our company for the blocking of the koker. I took him at his word since I consider him to be an honourable gentleman.
4) Some journalists, commentators and others have seized upon this video to launch virulent attacks on us. Not one single person who made these comments, I can assure you, has taken the liberty to visit our facility. On the contrary, we have been visited by a swarm of government ministers, renowned engineers, Ministry of Public Infrastructure and GWI officials, and I should add, various sections of the media whom I personally invited, and not one has commented on us having blocked or built on the koker to expand our facility. In short, the only people who have been critical of us are those who have not visited our facility.
5) One of the engineers on his visit to the various facilities last Sunday made some remarks about the Lamaha sluice to Demerara Waves and he noted that a contractor had covered part of the inlet to accommodate his heavy duty machinery. I should note in passing that this is the same honourable contractor that visited our facility to star in the above mentioned video.
6) A large number of media practitioners in this country would rather not observe the basic tenets of journalism which is to gather the facts on the ground and speak to both sides. Facts are usually complicated, mundane and boring. Further, they tend to get in the way of a good story. However, they remain stubbornly present and cannot be wished away. I am willing to invite any of these equally honourable citizens to our facility to observe the facts.
Yours faithfully,
Robin Muneshwer