Shoddy work on the Princes Street sluice caused flooding in Charlestown and Albouystown yesterday and Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha has condemned the contractor.
The contract was awarded to Square Commodities Construc-tion Company by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) which comes under Mustapha’s ministry. NDIA has taken over responsibility for key drainage works in the city.
In a press release, Mustapha said that situations like these should never occur.
“We went through a very transparent process with these contracts. The company submitted bids and was awarded the contract based on their submission. Today, we are having a very good weather, people are being affected because of faulty work by the contractor… This is the first time we are working with this company and as minister, I am very dissatisfied. When we took office, we made it clear that we want everyone to be given a fair chance to work with the government and receive contracts, but if you are not experienced or have experienced people working for you, you will find yourself in a similar situation and we do not take these situations lightly”, he said.
Mustapha informed that as a result of the faulty work by the contractor several buildings including the Ketley Primary School were affected. Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill later visited the school to explain the situation to the headmistress and said he was mobilizing planks so that the pupils did not have to navigate water. He apologised for the problem.
City Mayor Ubraj Narine yesterday reprimanded the NDIA for what he referred to as its “misconduct” while stating in an interview with Stabroek News that the City Council did not receive a letter about the operation but was alerted by residents about the flooding.
“I am shocked about the government action, unlawful operations in this city, this government sabotaging this city, undermining this city, the City Engineer did not report this, the residents called me, I went down to the koker guy who work at the koker who said to me they install the door – NDIA, but no letter never reach to me”, he told this newspaper.
Narine noted that the wooden sluice door was replaced with a steel door and in doing so, the contractor did it incorrectly. “The contractor seem as he don’t know what he is doing and fix the door wrong. This was alleged that no engineer from the City Council wasn’t there because I don’t know if them aware of the operation to replace the koker door. Every time the NDIA do a replacement I would get a letter from the Chief Executive Officer but I didn’t receive anything.”
Last August, Square Commodities signed a contract for just over $11.6 million with NDIA for the fabrication and installation of a stainless steel door at the Princes Street koker.
The Agriculture Minister further stated that as a result of this incident, the NDIA has since been advised to terminate the contract and award an emergency contract to a company with more experience.
Narine refuted the statement Edghill made as it relates to the sluice door. “I am surprised at the Hon. Minister of Public Works, [who] went on television, DPI [Department of Public Information] and said it’s a high tide and not to tell the citizens the truth. It’s not high tide, it’s spring tide, but if the door is not fixed properly the water will undermine and seep in. I went down there, the contractor is there and I get a full understanding of what is happening.”
As such, the Mayor is calling on the government to compensate those residents who are affected by the flooding. “These things cause damage to people’s property, are the government going to replace equipment and help these citizens, I am calling on the government to analyze what is happening and a cash grant should be given to all the citizens whose properties were damaged and their losses.”
The engineers from the NDIA are currently working to put systems in place to relieve the intrusion of river water at the Princes Street sluice. They will also be monitoring the structure on a 24-hour basis. At press time the water was receding.
The quality of the contractor’s work will add to growing concerns that contracts are being awarded to persons who don’t have the necessary experience and resources. Just last week Edghill terminated another contract as the contractor had done no work despite collecting the mobilisation advance. Evaluation committees of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board are recommending the contractors. (Shuntel Glasgow)
