Latest update February 6th, 2025 7:27 AM
Engineer says technical incompetence driving up cost of large projects
Cites specialty hospital
Leading geotechnical engineer Charles P. Ceres says that technical incompetence drives up costs
Charles Ceres
on large infrastructure projects. Such technical incompetence is being demonstrated in the building of the specialty hospital on the lower East Coast Demerara, he added.
Ceres, also a groundwater hydrologist, made his comment because of a document from the Ministry of Health. This document lacked any detail while calling for a geotechnical investigation.
Typically, anywhere in the world, such a document would come from an architect, Ceres explained, with a description of the facility being built.
The correspondence sent by the Ministry of Health contained no description “Here you have a document which has no concept of what the project entails. A document that should go to the geo-technical engineer should be a document that has a project concept,” he stated.
If you’re building a hospital, there may be roads in the area or there may be an elevator that has to be built, he suggested, adding that there are special geo-technical engineering considerations that are applicable to a roadway and applicable to an elevator but would not be applicable to a foundation.
“It doesn’t satisfy minimum standards that should go out as requests for proposal,” Ceres said yesterday. He declared that he will continue to reveal the deficiencies with projects in Guyana from a technical perspective.
“A politician has determined the need for this hospital, but I am not going to get involved in that discussion. However, at the end of the day the engineers have to execute it in a technically and professionally sound manner,” he emphasised.
To illustrate his point of how technical inefficiency drives up costs, Ceres said that anyone can build the Bank of Guyana, once they are given enough steel and concrete.
Someone who is not concerned about the technical soundness will seek to save his back by making sure he puts “plenty steel and concrete” to ensure the building stands.
“However, an engineer will say this is what I will need. If I am a layman, all you have to do is give me enough steel and concrete.
“An engineer will however do it for the minimum cost; a professional job is always supposed to be cheaper – that is why you pay an engineer,” Ceres declared.
He added: “If you’re not paying me to save money, then you shouldn’t be paying me. You don’t pay engineers to waste your money; you pay engineers because you want to minimise your costs and you want to optimise the use of the facility.”
He said the document from the Ministry of Health, signed by a civil engineer, is an indication of technical incompetence and will ultimately affect the costing and performance of the facility.
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