With $33 million still to be paid to BK International for the construction of the sluice at Little Diamond, East Bank Demerara, the Ministry of Agriculture is seeking legal advice on whether a portion of the sum can be used to compensate residents who suffered from flash flooding late April.
Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha yesterday told Stabroek News that he has asked the Attorney General Anil Nandlall to review the contract to determine if they can set aside money to compensate the affected households.
“It is still my firm belief that the contractor should compensate the 114 households that suffer losses from the flooding because of his workers negligence. We are looking at ways we can get compensation for them because they would have lost a lot, appliances, household items and so forth,” Mustapha said when contacted.
He related further that the Guyana Livestock Development Authority is currently working with farmers to aid in the provision of livestock so they can restart rearing.
Stabroek News had reported that an excavator that was deployed to construct a new dam around the sluice to function as a river defence got stuck. The depression weakened the dam, which was eventually washed away.
According to the residents, prior to the flooding they informed the excavator operators of the breach but they failed to seal it properly. They alerted them because the yards and homes of some villagers residing close to the river were flooded.
The April breach was the fourth to occur since the construction of the sluice began and the residents said it resulted in the worst flooding of its type.
Chief Engineer at BK International Ghanie Shaw told Stabroek News that since works began yesterday morning, they have managed to seal the breach and strengthen the river defence dam. He noted that the next phase of the project is to encage boulders and place them in front of the dam, a move that will significant reduce the force of rising tides. “We have these large baskets that we will fill with boulders and place them to further strengthen the dam against forceful tides,” Shaw explained.
Mustapha has been quoted by the Department of Public Information as saying that the contractor and his workers should have been more aggressive in their efforts to fix the initial breach in the dam.
“Based on what residents are saying, the breach was caused by the negligence of the operator who was hired by the contractor currently executing the works. Residents reported that there was a machine on the dam that was built and it seems as though that machine had some issues, and when attempts were made to remove the machine that resulted in the breach. Yesterday (April 25) there was a first breach and attempts were made to fix it. Now today, over 100 houses were flooded. Persons lost a lot of household appliances. I believe the contractor should’ve been more aggressive in his attempt to rectify the initial breach. Apparently, yesterday, when there were signs of the breach and residents, informed the operator, nothing much was done to stop it and as a result this morning we had this incident,” Mustapha said.
“This was a serious breach. We should not have had this situation because this project has been awarded since 2017 and it is now 2021. I have called in the contractor [BK International] and informed them they have until mid-May to complete works here,” Mustapha asserted further.
The sluice is being constructed at a cost of $123 million under the auspices of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority.
