Latest update January 7th, 2025 2:15 AM
Contractor lags with $237M Patentia Pump station
…Govt sets six-week deadline
Engineers Fredrick Flatts and Lionel Wordsworth, along with Junior Finance Minister, Juan Edghill and Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, are deeply concerned about a pump station at Patentia, West Bank Demerara.
Construction started some two months ago and the foundation is far from complete.
The pump station which costs $237.1 million, according to Dr. Ramsammy, is a part of the Agricultural Diversification Programme (ADP).
The foundation is far from completion and the coffer dam (right) is collapsing.
He said that it is one of the components of the programme that is aimed at improving drainage and irrigation.
This pump in particular, is intended to improve the drainage system for Canal Number Two, West Bank Demerara. It is one of the three separate structures being done for Region Three.
However, since the contractor, Harrychand Tulsie, has been awarded the project, only 13.5 percent of the work has been completed.
Engineers who were on site yesterday, explained to the Ministers that the contractor is way behind schedule; that at least 40 percent of the work should have been completed.
Flatts said that the foundation work should have been completed by now. It is surprising that 39 piles should have been laid on the site in addition to the mere five that have been laid during the past two months, he added.
Minister Edghill was critical of both the contractor and the Inspector of works, Robert Mc Alman. “My concern is time, and there is a timeframe by which this project has to come in. We are here for two and a half months now and we just have roughly six weeks left and we are still working on foundation. We have to mobilize all the resources. We have to bring this in on time. We don’t have an option.”
Tulsie, the contractor, told the Ministers that the major problem is the soil. He said, “While we are hopeful to lay the rest of the piles by this weekend, there is no guarantee that it is the answer to our problem.
“The reason the foundation work has not been completed is because of the soil and I guarantee that if you put an excavator there, it will sink. We are trying to get the work done in a safe manner and avoid losing any lives. We tried building a dam but even that started to collapse despite efforts to put reinforcements in place.”
“The soil presents a great challenge for us. We are trying to mix the soil and lay some sort of foundation to get the excavator into the pit to commence the work but it is very hard to do that at the moment.”
In the wake of his explanation, Edghill asked him, “When you tendered for this project didn’t you check the soil?”
But the contractor said, “No. I just assumed that it would be of average condition.”
One engineer said that what is of concern to him is that the staff working with the contractor is not professionally and technically trained. He said that they are just labourers. This is also contributing to the work being held up, he said.
Edghill before leaving the site, once again reminded the contractor that there are certain contractual agreements that have to be honoured.
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