After more than five years of boat operators and communities continuously lamenting the dilapidated state of the Charity Wharf, a project to rebuild it seems closer as eight companies this week submitted bids for its construction.
The eight bids were opened on Wednesday, 21st August 2024 at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board and the names of the companies and their bids are shown in the table below.
In 2019, boat operators and commuters using the wharf on the Essequibo Coast, had complained to this newspaper that it was on the verge of collapsing completely and could result in injuries if it was not fixed soon. The then regional chairman Devanand Ramdatt had deemed it “a disaster waiting to happen.”
Some of the boat operators had told Stabroek News that many of the boards were missing and that some, along with the pillars, had become rotten.
Shahab Mohamed, the owner of a speedboat plying the Charity to Moruca route, had said that the wharf had sunk about one and half feet deep already.
Mohamed, who had been operating a speedboat for the past 20 years, said that the last time the wharf underwent repairs was about six years prior when the front section was repaired “but the boards are rotten again”.
Another speedboat owner, 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…
“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.
