Residents of the West Coast Berbice are disputing claims made by Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Frederick Flatts that the tender for rehabilitation of Trafalgar pumps was cancelled and the job sole-sourced because of more flooding.
Residents of Trafalgar, Tempe and Lichfield, areas where Flatts claimed there was a large flood after the invitation to tender was advertised on July 17, said that in fact there had been no additional flooding and the repairs of the pumps could have waited until the tendering was finished.
“From what I can recall correctly the last time we had any flood around this area is when we de fed up and de come out on the road and block it off. That was like two months ago and after that it didn’t rain so much and we didn’t flood back,” Lance Facet, a resident of Trafalgar explained to Stabroek News yesterday. He pointed out that from his understanding of things the NDIA could have waited until the bidding process was completed to start works on the pumps since there has not been much rainfall in the area.