Dear Editor,
There’s a burning issue that has been affecting the residents living at Holmes Stelling at the back of the fertilizer wharf on Water Street. There’s a major demolition that has been ongoing at the Avinash Complex on Water Street for the past 4 months. The demolition is being carried out by a local firm JR Ranch Inc who was contracted to do the demolishing by one of the oil and gas firms operating here in Guyana by the name of Saipem, who’s also one of the contractors for ExxonMobil.
The main issue is that the vibration from the different types of heavy machinery that are operating daily is causing serious vibrations through the houses of the residents nearby. Some of the residents are complaining that all their appliances are falling off their walls, television, stereos, everything is shaking due to the heavy vibrations. One resident has a child who is two weeks old and the vibrations are affecting the infant tremendously and they’re wondering if they should incur any damages if anyone is going to compensate them.
God forbids the worst-case scenario should happen that one of the houses collapse with one of the residents then we will know about the safety protocols and measures in place when it’s too late. Only a few months back a large crawler crane crashed into the municipal abattoir on Water Street. It was doing some construction work for an oil & gas company and luckily no one was injured at the time because it wasn’t a working day at the abattoir. The residents at Holmes Stelling don’t want to stymie development or progress in this country but are concerned about their health and safety, something that is paramount within the oil & gas sector that every company emphasises a lot about. To date no company nor any relevant body has had any consultation or conversation with any of the residents living nearby and this is only the demolition phase. What will happen when the major construction begins to build a pipe storage facility? When they have to drive concrete piles 400ft into the earth, the residents there will be on their own like refugees fleeing from their own country I’m pleading with the relevant authorities to look into this matter urgently: the EPA, the minister of housing and water and all other relevant authorities.
Yours faithfully,
D. Halley
