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Ramsammy says pumps here, Luncheon says no
Just one day after Minister of Agriculture Dr. Leslie Ramsammy confirmed that all 14 pumps from Surendra Engineering have arrived in Guyana, Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon has refuted this.
According to Dr Luncheon a meeting was held and some of the pumps are expected to be in Guyana in December contrary to what Minister Ramsammy said. With Dr. Luncheon’s statement now, it is unclear whether the “pumps” which were procured at the cost of US$4 million are really in Guyana.
Efforts last night to contact the Minister proved futile. 
Agriculture Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy on Thursday said that all 14 pumps which the Ministry had bought from India-based Company Surendra Engineering in 2011 have been delivered. According to Dr Ramsammy, some of the pumps are already in operation while others are being installed.
Ramsammy told Kaieteur News that pumps are currently being installed at Patentia, Bagotstown, at Number 19 Village in Berbice, Windsor Forest, Pine Grove, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara, and Albion, Corentyne, Berbice.
The Minister said that one is being shipped to Lima on the Essequibo Coast. The Minister further indicated that pumps at Canje, Rose Hall, Bengal, Crabwood Creek, and Black Bush Polder have been completed and are working.
Engineers from Guyana were sent to India to inspect the drainage pumps. The issue has been a controversial one ever since the government handed Surendra Engineering a US$4 million contract two years ago.
The pumps were bought through an Indian line of credit.
The government described the equipment as being “critical to meeting medium and long term plans to manage the effects of climate change, which over time have been threatening the country”.
Ramsammy noted that each pump will have the capacity of discharging up to 200 cubic metres of water per second. Current pumps have the capacity of 150 cubic metres per second capacity.
Surendra Engineering, in addition to supplying the pumps, is responsible for the provision of technical support and training.
The pumps were to be initially delivered since December 2011, and an extension was granted to September 2012.
Together with the assets of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), the country would be boasting a capacity of almost 100 pumps, inclusive of both fixed and mobile, officials of the Agriculture Ministry had said last year.
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