Latest update August 4th, 2026 12:30 AM
Courtney Benn was not retained to build Hope Canal sluice gates – Ramsammy
Agriculture Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has denied that his Ministry arbitrarily removed the construction of the sluice gates from the contract that was awarded to Courtney Benn Contracting Services for the Hope Canal.
According to the Minister, while the fabrication of the eight steel gates for the outer sluice of the Northern Relief Channel at Hope is part of the design, it was never part of the contract with Courtney Benn.
Ramsammy said that the Ministry wanted Courtney Benn to focus on the building of the infrastructure that will house the gates. He said that it was always a separate contract from the very beginning.
The Minister stated that the contract was tendered to the Guyana National Industrial Corporation (GNIC), which itself informed earlier of the completion of the fabrication of all eight gates.
In terms of the Northern Relief Channel, the only outstanding aspect that is keeping it from operationalisation is the construction of the same outer sluice. As it stands, construction is in excess of 80 percent completed.
Further, Ramsammy said that the Ministry is working with the contractor with the view to increasing the working hours and number of days, so that construction can be completed within six to eight weeks.
On Thursday, National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) head, Lionel Wordsworth, told Kaieteur News that the deadline for the completion of the $3.6B Hope Canal has been extended to year end.
Wordsworth said that work had concluded on the embankment channel. He explained that the contractor is now working to conclude the ‘High Level Discharge Sluice’. The official was confident that the entire Hope Canal Project is expected to be commissioned this year end. He, however, could not give a specific date.
However, there is intense discussion with the Contractor and Project Consultant to conclude on several issues. “Every item we are evaluating to put a date on it.”
He disclosed that the ‘Head Regulator,’ the gate that will control waters from the East Demerara Water Conservancy to the Hope Canal, has been completed.
Last week, GNIC announced that it had completed the construction of the eight sluice gates and accompanying guides for the Atlantic end of the Hope Canal on the East Coast of Demerara.
The stainless steel sluice gates were constructed in the company’s shipyard located on Lombard Street, within the prescribed two-month contract deadline.
According to GNIC’s CEO, Clinton Williams, the delicate construction was completed under the close supervision of Gilbert Corlette, a highly certified and very experienced welding/fabrication Quality Assurance Engineer. The gates and guides were ready to be transported to their intended locations since the beginning of August.
GNIC was sub-contracted earlier this year by NDIA to construct the sluice doors and the guides that will facilitate their smooth vertical movement when the US$15M Hope Canal project goes into operation to alleviate flooding in the Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary (MMA) areas.
The US$15M Hope Canal project is funded entirely by the people of Guyana.
When completed, it is expected to significantly reduce the vulnerability of flooding in Guyana’s low-lying coastal areas which are under increasing threat from rising sea levels and climate change. The coastland is especially vulnerable because it is below sea level and with large swaths of agricultural lands in the area, concerns have increased.
In the past, residents of Hope, Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary and surrounding communities suffered tremendously as a result of flooding.
Work on the four-component project, valued $3.6B, began in 2011 and was expected to be completed in about two years. The project, however, suffered some delays due to issues pertaining to weather and the availability of building materials. The deadlines have been pushed back again and again.
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