Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Frederick Flatts has confirmed that the ongoing rehabilitation of two electric drainage pumps at Trafalgar, West Coast Berbice, was sole sourced and he said that recent severe flooding in the area forced the decision.
In July, the NDIA invited bids for the rehabilitation works, which were pegged at an estimated cost of $48.6 million, but it cancelled the invitation about two weeks after, fuelling suspicion among prospective bidders that the contract had been sole sourced.
The Government Information Agency (GINA) yesterday reported Flatts as saying that the NDIA had programmed to rehabilitate the pumps this year and the intention was to do so before the rainy season commences in November.
“Following the first three floods, residents were highly agitated, and as we all know, no one occasion they even blocked traffic on the public road. Based on that, we decided to go ahead and advertise for the rehab of the two vandalised pumps for the station,” Flatts was quoted as saying.
“We advertised and during the period before bids were received there was yet another flood. This flood was the largest flood because of it being extended to Lichfield instead of being limited to the Bush Lot and Tempe areas. I believe that we needed to take an immediate step to sort out the flooding. I felt that if we had gone through the long process then there would be flooding again,” he added.
Flatts said that while it was also advertised in the media that the bidding process was being nullified, they had immediately procured someone to take on the work. “The person we chose is the person who had actually set up the pump station a few years ago, and therefore we thought he was the best person to carry out any rehab,” the report quoted Flatts as saying.
It pointed out that they have since been able to get one pump and the generator working and even though the second pump has more problems than they had anticipated, it is currently being rehabilitated.
“As I speak, there has been a lot of rain in Region Five today, August 16. I believe it is fortunate we have that pump working because we possibly would have gone in for another period of flooding,” he said.
Flatts, the report added, pointed out that other works, including fixing the control room and the installation of a perimeter fence and lights to prevent the pumps from being vandalised again, have been identified and are expected to be completed in about three weeks.
The two giant pumps were left non-functional after they were reportedly vandalised over two years ago and was never fixed by the NDIA. The pumps had been vandalised and repaired a number of times before then, including in 2007, 2008 and 2011.
