Less than four years later…Multimillion dollar Leguan koker remains faulty

Mar 05, 2014 News

Despite being built less than four years ago, at a whopping cost of $94M, the koker located at Waterloo village, Leguan continues to operate in a faulty manner.
This is a major inconvenience to dozens of families, especially those depending on farming as a means of livelihood.
In order to repair the defective part of the structure, the Government of Guyana, and by extension the taxpaying citizens of the country, will have to invest another large sum of money. This is likely to amount to millions.

The multi-million-dollar Koker located at Waterloo village, Leguan

When contacted yesterday, Alliance For Change (AFC) Councillor of Region Three, Dr. Kamal-Roy Narine confirmed the cost at which the koker was built, noting that the structure was poorly designed and constructed.
“It is ridiculous that after spending so much money, we still can’t benefit from the koker. Now, the Administration has to spend millions more to fix it,” Narine, who is also a resident of Leguan stressed.
He is of the opinion that the Region’s politics is what has been causing problems for the islanders.
“The thing is the politics and the political people. Because of this, nobody goes to check the work that is ongoing at the various project sites… so anything goes on,” Narine added.
He explained that currently, the koker is still not functioning as it should, and that this has been the reason for rice farmers incurring hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.
Kaieteur News was told that although the koker door would be shut, water continues to pour in on the island, causing the farmlands to flood.
“They didn’t build it good, so that is what is happening there all the water comes in on the island and flood out the rice farms. When spring tides come, some villages are flooded and crops are lost. Is this why taxpayers’ money were spent, for them to be at an inconvenience? This isn’t right,” Narine said.
He told this newspaper that while the structure at Waterloo village will receive much attention because of its significant cost, almost every other koker on the island has been working poorly.
Kaieteur News spoke with one islander named “Ricky,” who explained that usually, whenever the tides are high and the island is flooded, many would resort to holding the koker attendant culpable.
“But is nah he fault. How it gon be the attendant fault when the koker itself nah wuk. But some ah the people here does be determined and want blame the poor boy,” “Ricky” said yesterday.
Meanwhile, another AFC Councillor, Harry Narine Deokinanan told Kaieteur News that he finds the situation of the nonfunctional koker especially annoying, because authorities were not too keen in overseeing the construction of the structure, which has cost the people of Guyana millions of dollars.
Deokinanan posited that he finds the Regional Democratic Council to be an incompetent administration, because more often than not, residents would complain that works being spearheaded by the council are shoddy.
In the case of the Koker, Deokinanan believes that the engineers responsible for the project should be disciplined for not only wasting taxpayers’ dollars, but for not executing their tasks efficiently.
“Something like that can’t be regarded as a mistake. If they had done their work properly, the koker would have been operating properly. It’s not like this is the first time that the residents are complaining about shabby work that they’re doing in the Region, so I think something should be done,” Deokinanan emphasized.
He also believes that the substandard works and the uncaring attitude showed to the people of Region Three, by the governing body must cease.
“They have to stop it. That must be why the people are migrating and so, and we have to stop that,” Deokinanan said, adding that monies spent by the RDC must benefit the people on the region, especially since “it is their money.”
On behalf of the islanders, Deokinanan is calling on the relevant Ministers of Government to look into the plight of the people, especially the suffering farmers.
Councillor Deokinanan explained that in addition to the koker, the residents of Leguan are facing a number of other problems that is not being dealt with by the regional authorities.