With the contract signed more than 30 months ago, the pump station for which construction commenced in late 2022 at the head of Adventure Village, Corentyne is yet to come into operation, several sources within Region Six have confirmed.
The pump is expected to provide faster drainage to a section of the Black Bush Polder, Region Six including the Cookrite Savannah which is often easily flooded,
Lekha Rambrich, one of the directors on the National Drainage and Irrigation Board told Stabroek News last week that the pump station is 98% completed with the contractor now awaiting water to have a test run done.
Rambrich explained further that due to the dry weather, a timeline cannot be set as to when this will be done but that once there is the required water the test run will be carried out as he noted that the pump is fully installed.
Additionally, he said, that tenders have been awarded for the clearing of the three outfalls explaining that once there is rainfall and water starts to accumulate then the contractors will carry out the work.
Further, Rambrich stressed, that the NDIA is fully prepared and has plans in place for the May/June rainy season.
In July of 2023, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha had said that works on the Adventure Pump Station were 90% complete then. It is unclear why the project did not proceed to completion.
Mustapha when contacted in July 2023 for an update had explained that the $800m project, which he had said was a “multi-year” one, was 90% complete and should come into operation sometime at the end of last year.
However, this is yet to happen a senior regional official said last week. According to a source, earlier this year “what appeared to be components of the pump” were noticed at the location. “When you go by the back you might see the sump portion but that is only a component that has to be attached to the engine and gearbox of the pump so unless you can get inside you won’t know for sure if it’s really installed or not”, the technical source explained. On September 10, 2022, Stabroek News carried a letter by a resident of Adventure which stated that almost a year had passed and the project was stalled at that time
The letter writer had said, that “Work is stagnant. There seems to be no hurry in finishing it… A building or structure has not been constructed for the pump and there is no evidence of a pump for the project. Judging from how other pump stations work, the Adventure project is not even 10% completed, much less 50%. It raises some questions.”
The writer added: “It was supposed to mitigate flooding in the Black Bush Polder area and Cookrite Savannah but being incomplete, resulting in floods earlier this year in surrounding areas. This is the area that was inundated by floodwater in May 2021 turning it into a large lake. Stabroek News provided extensive coverage of the flooding and also carried an editorial on mishandling of infrastructure projects and failure to deter cultivation in the Cookrite Savannah”.
At that time, sources in the region said that the project was stalled for a while due to “technical issues” but works had recommenced.
The contractor is Anil Sawh of D. Sawh Mechanical Workshop. When contacted on September 2022, Sawh lashed out at this newspaper, stating that he would be contacting his lawyers with regard to the letter carried in the newspaper.
Prior to the awarding of the project, Mustapha had committed that two pumps at a cost of $1.2 billion would be constructed. Early in 2022, he had said, “I made the commitment when I was in Black Bush Polder that we will build a pump in Black Bush, an irrigation pump there, and that we will have a drainage pump at Adventure so all the Black Bush Polder outlets will have pumps now.”
The Department of Public Information had reported that the contract for the Adventure Pump Station was signed on September 8, 2021. It is unclear what the original deadline was for the completion of the pump station.
