Boat operators and commuters using the Charity Wharf on the Essequibo Coast, say it is on the verge of collapsing completely and could result in injuries if it is not fixed soon, while Regional Chairman, Devanand Ramdatt has deemed it “a disaster waiting to happen.”
During a visit last Friday, some of the boat operators told Stabroek News that many of the boards are missing and that some, along with the pillars, have become rotten.
Ramdatt told this newspaper that the wharf has been in a “dangerous position for more than 18 years and since then the region has been knocking at the doorsteps of the government” to get it fixed.
Shahab Mohamed, the owner of a speedboat that plies the Charity to Moruca route, said that the wharf has sunk about one and half feet deep already.
Mohamed who has been operating a speedboat for the past 20 years, said that the last time the wharf underwent repairs was about six years ago.
He said that the front section was repaired “but the boards are rotten again.”
Another speedboat owner, named ‘Troy’ of Moruca said: “Plenty old people use the wharf and it is very dangerous for them. They can get hurt. People can’t walk here properly…”
He too stressed: “This whole stelling here ain’t good… all the piles are eating away. They shouldn’t wait until someone get injured to fix it.”
The wharf is the main port for students and other passengers and for business activities from several areas. These include farmers and shop owners from the four Amerindian villages in lower and upper Pomeroon; Wakapao, Akawini, Kabakaburi and St. Monica, Karawai as well as from Moruca and Barama.
Charity has also become the port of entry for Venezuelans seeking refuge in Essequibo and other parts of Guyana to escape the devastation in their country.
The wharf had three stairways but now two of the stairways have completely broken off while some of the boards are missing from the one that is in use.
They operators said it was breaking away “slowly and slowly and nobody was looking after it”.
Some of the boards on the stelling have become loose and shaky and the operators said it is because the “bolts come off.”
Some of the old rotten planks that are not in use have remained in the water and Troy said it was “damaging up your boats terrible. When you tie your boats, sometimes it left hook up. And when the water high…. it could bore your boat.”
Businessman and boat owner Terry Williams and his worker, Glen Ramasindo said even though the entire stairway is broken he was still using that area to load goods on the boats.
They said it is better to use that area because the one that the passengers use is not convenient.
Another boat owner, Mark Thompson, was loading goods in a boat to take to Barama. He said the pillars on the wharf are sinking and he does know what the authorities intend to do about it. He would really like to see it fixed.
Close to where his boat was moored, he showed this newspaper how a section of the wharf had sunk.
It was observed that there was a big drop from the wooden section of the wharf to the “concrete part and people are afraid to pass there.”
Residents of Charity and the boat owners are surprised that for such a busy stelling the authorities did not give it the priority it deserves.
During a visit in March this year, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson had said that “the rehabilitation of the Charity Stelling Wharf is high on the list of priorities for the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.”
The minister had said too: “Due to the deterioration of the wooden piles supporting the structure, “recommendations will be made that nothing heavy will be placed on it.”
Ramdatt said no action has been taken since then and that “the region does not have the budgetary allocations to handle such a macro project.”
He said the former Regional Executive Officer, Rupert Hopkinson had written to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure seeking its intervention but the region was not successful in getting the support from the ministry.
According to him, “It is not only a regional concern, but it can be a national concern.”
The chairman said he “was advised that the way the wharf was constructed, if it collapses in the Pomeroon River, it can pull the Charity River Dam.”
And most of the northern part of the area can be affected.
He said a big businessman in the community was willing to be a stakeholder in the development of the wharf but the ministry has not yet responded to his offer.
