Ministry erred in adding pontoon, ramp – BK Int’l

May 14, 2010 News

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By Leonard Gildarie

More controversy continues to swirl around the new $600M Supenaam stelling with the contractor, BK International, again yesterday, distancing itself from the faults which developed earlier this week forcing its closure four days after being opened to traffic.
There are clear indications that the stelling’s integrity may have been “structurally compromised”, because of modifications made without the consultations to the contractor, designing firm and project supervisors, the company said.
BK International, during a media tour of the Essequibo facility, said that the Ministry of Public Works erred in making modifications without consultations which included an extra pontoon and a ramp/drawbridge.
According to BK’s public relations consultant, Kit Nascimento, the company complied and built everything according to the designs and specifications, with the clear understanding that a ramp should be attached to ferries docking at the stelling. However, the Ministry’s Transport and Harbours Department, acting on instructions, built a ramp/drawbridge from the stelling which could not support the weight of heavy vehicles.

As a matter of fact, should the stelling continue with the use of the ramp, passengers could face the certain possibility of being killed, the officials warned.
Present at the media tour yesterday were BK’s Managing Director, Brian Tiwari, its engineer, Julian Archer, and Kiran Shah, a consultant engineer of the Trinidad-based Vikab Engineering which oversaw the construction of the stelling. Archer was the Project Engineer during the stelling’s construction prior to moving over to BK International late last year, it was disclosed.
MODIFICATIONS
According to Archer, modification works by the Ministry to add a new pontoon was uncalled for since the almost $600M facility which was handed over in January could have facilitated off-loading/on-loading easily if the ferries were using their own drawbridge.
The current ramp attached to the stelling is placing extra strain to the bridge area, according to the officials, and already yesterday attachments had broken loose from the driveway and there was an evident growing space in between.
Additionally, the BK group pointed out to several areas of damage to the facility by an excavator, with cracks in the sidewalls of the rails. Further, the officials said, the new pontoon, which was all added on without consultations, could create further flotation problems of the bridge since it was not attached in a manner to allow flexibility. According to Nascimento, the issue is a simple one – BK delivered a contract that it built according to designs and specifications. “Government then sought to modify it and they have done so without consultations…”

Archer believed that “excessive loading” on the ramp, which could not have possibly taken so much weight, was what caused the end beams of the ramp to fold Tuesday morning while the MV Torani was loading.
The officials stressed that the bridge was intended to accommodate vehicles up to 20 tonnes.
According to BK’s Managing Director, Brian Tiwari, the problems encountered when a pontoon, built at the orders of the Ministry, sank, and more recently with the ramp, have absolutely nothing to do with his firm.
He disclosed that in January, the Minister of Public Works Robeson Benn, Minister of Local Government, Kellawan Lall, Permanent Secretary, Seewchan and Region Two Chairman, Ali Baksh, were present when tests were done on the bridge to ensure that there were no flotation issues. A truck weighed at Parika by government officials was placed on the bridge and the pontoon stood up to the test, Tiwari stressed.
BK VS BENN
A clearly upset Tiwari stated that Minister Benn said publicly then that he would not be spending a “cent” more on the stelling. However, a few months later, millions more were spent to make modifications.
Additionally, Tiwari noted that the damage to the stelling during the modification works were extensive.
Describing the damage as “willful” acts by Ministry’s officials, the official said President Bharrat Jagdeo should investigate the matter and hold them accountable.
“This is total madness.”
According to Tiwari, during a meeting Wednesday, Minister Benn attempted to “change his mouth” when it was pointed out that tests were done to ensure the integrity of the bridge. However, there was a clear photograph of the test being conducted in January which showed the packed truck on the bridge with no apparent issues with the pontoon or flotation.
“I think that whoever did this…was only to criticize us…we don’t see the need. All we see in this is the need to kill a couple of people.”
Tiwari accused Kaieteur News of misrepresenting some facts. Kaieteur News, in its stories on the stelling and its troubles, had only said that BK built the facility. A clarification letter issued by BK earlier this month distancing itself from the incidents had at all times been carried.
“You are like your boss…who never went to school,” Tiwari told the reporter.
POOR MONITORING
Four days after the multi-million-dollar stelling opened to traffic in Essequibo, authorities were forced on Tuesday to close operations as the controversial ramp buckled under the weight of vehicles.
Angry Essequibo residents said that it was a clear case of poor monitoring of the almost $600M (US$3M) project that has been hailed by government as a major improvement to that county.
Operations were hurriedly shifted back to the old Adventure stelling to cater for the scores of vehicles that would have been stranded at Parika and in Region Two, Essequibo, even as technical officials of the Ministry of Public Works were reportedly rushed down to the troubled area to assess the damage.
Almost 25 staffers, who were moved on Saturday from the Adventure area in what should have been a positive end to a troubled construction, were told to report back for duties to that stelling until further notice.

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