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Regional Chairman blames NDIA for koker incident
The leaks at the Koker located at Craig, EBD
The overseer of the Neighborhood Democratic Council (NDC) responsible for the Garden of Eden area, where a koker collapsed under the pressure of a high tide on Wednesday, says he is worried that if not resolved the same will happen to a similar structure at Craig.
Raghunandan Singh disclosed that several reports have been made as it relates to the susceptibility of that koker to the Demerara River.
According to the overseer, the koker at Craig will collapse at any time if remedial works are not done, pointing out that it is already haemorrhaging while the koker is closed.
This will see another several hundred acres of farmland under threat.
Meanwhile, Regional Chairman (Region 4) Clement Corlette, in response to the article about the damaged Garden of Eden koker in this newspaper’s Wednesday edition, said that it was initially built by Dywidag in 2003/2004 under the Ministry of Public Works bridge rehabilitation programme.
He said that the Regional Administration has since observed a bi-annual maintenance schedule of the koker since its construction and hand over, adding that several complaints were received by the Region Four Engineer’s Department in 2009 pertaining to defects with the structure.
Corlette said that as a result of the complaints, remedial works were done to the wing wall, to the tune of $1.2M, in order to correct the situation by the Region.
Corlette also pointed out that the contractor has not yet been paid given that the monies for the region have not been released to date.
He said that last month the Clerk/Regional Executive Officer and Engineer visited the sluice again, acting on complaints received, and the Engineer determined following his inspection of the structure, that the grove on the bottom of the columns and floor slab of the sluice were damaged.
Corlette said that in light of the magnitude of the anticipated works it was found to be beyond the ability of the Region to finance.
“As such National Drainage & Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Senior Engineer Dave Hicks was informed of the situation and requested to advise his Principals accordingly, by the Clerk/Regional Executive Officer.”
According to Corlette, Hicks informed the Region Four Engineer that a NDIA Engineer inspected the Garden of Eden sluice and found nothing wrong to warrant any repair work.
Corlette added that their Engineer apprised Lionel Wordsworth, Chief Executive Officer (ag) NDIA, on the status of the sluice since he was not satisfied with the questionable response of the NDIA Senior Engineer to his concerns.
“Central Government has not given Region Four funding to rehabilitate or construct sluices as part of the 2010 Capital Work Programme.”
Corlette also slammed Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud for what he deemed unwelcomed comments on the matter of the collapsed Sluice Door, which was not constructed by Region Four.
“It is unfortunate that he had chosen to speak to the issue with such indecent haste before seeking a comment from the Region Four Regional Government on the matter.”
He said that the Minister according to their records over the past four years “has shown a tendency to believe that the Ministry under his watch has a license to usurp the functions and responsibilities of Regional Elected Governments in Guyana.’
Corlette added also that Persaud has “exhibited unbridled asperity on matters within Region Four on occasions, albeit uncalled for…It is time Minister Persaud takes a look at the mirror…He will certainly see that Region Four was not responsible for the construction of the sluice that is now in the headlines and that the NDIA failed to respond to our request for assistance in a timely effective way.”
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