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Transport and Habours boss sent on leave
… Supenaam stelling fiasco
A senior official, charged with responsibility for the country’s stellings and ferry operations has been sent on leave.
Officials yesterday confirmed that Khevin Trim, General Manager (ag) of the Transport and Harbours Department, was issued a letter asking him to proceed on immediate leave.
Minister of Public Works and Transport, Robeson Benn, declined to link the action from the recent closure of the Supenaam Stelling and would only say that there was a “lack of engagement” and “dereliction” on part of Trim.
Sent on leave: Khevin Trim
However, other senior sources said that action had to do with the fallout of multi-million Supenaam stelling which continues to be plagued by problems.
Trim was expected to visit the stelling after reports of some separation of the ramp. He reportedly never did despite promising to do so.
And even when the stelling collapsed earlier this week he failed to visit the location, choosing instead to merely call the Works Minister to report the collapse.
Trim took over the helm of that department early 2009, after working at the Public Ministry since 1998.
The Supenaam stelling, with costs mounting over $500M, has been a major embarrassment with several mishaps since it was commissioned in May last year.
Earlier yesterday, Trim met with Benn and other senior functionaries of the Public Works Ministry.
Last May, the stelling ramp buckled under the weight of a heavy vehicle, days after it was opened to ferry traffic. Ferries were forced to revert to the Adventure Stelling which government had hoped to abandon. This particular stelling had been in use for more than 100 years.
Following the collapse of the ramp which effectively closed the stelling, President Bharrat Jagdeo ordered a report on the incident and tasked Prime Minister Samuel Hinds to oversee investigations.
Two private engineers were hired to investigate the incident.
There had been meetings with several of the parties involved in the construction of the stelling, including the contractors, BK International; the Ministry of Local Government, which was the executing agency; the Ministry of Public Works; the supervisors, Vikab Engineering and the designers, SNC Lavelin.
Key to those meetings was which parties would have been footing the bill to fix the defects and subsequent damage to the facility. However, the report has not been released nor has blame been apportioned, at least publicly.
Last year January, the stelling was handed over to the Ministry of Public Works which claimed that it had raised concerns over some problems that were evident.
Just four days after it was opened to traffic, the stelling was forced to close operations after its ramp buckled under the weight of a truck.
The contractor, BK International, distancing itself from the incident, took media houses on an inspection shortly after and stated that modifications on the ramp by the Ministry of Public Works had caused the problems.
Late in April 2010, an extra pontoon being installed by the Ministry sank while work was being done to attach it to the ramp.
While the project was budgeted for $431M, repairs were made to the tune almost $20M last year.
Another $50M-plus was budgeted this year.
It was opened back for traffic a few weeks ago but with weight restrictions.
However, on Monday, government claimed that high tide caused the ramp section to slip from its pontoon support, effectively again closing the facility.
The stelling has been viewed as a good investment for Essequibo which overtime has been heavily dependent on river traffic, including the government-run ferries to come to the city.
Government has said that travel time from Essequibo to Parika would have been cut by a couple of hours.
Adventure Stelling, which is being used currently, is in a deplorable state.
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