Bombardment at Triumph Front Lands

Aug 22, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
Bombardment of the Triumph Front Lands community on the East Coast of Demerara, continues. As if our previous complaints of noise nuisance (leading to deafness) from the neighbouring community of Mon Repos north, and constant flooding (causing respiratory and other illnesses) were not enough, we are now faced with a similarly sized problem and that is, the eminent danger of our collapsing homes. How much more must we endure?

A private home owner, who apparently runs a roti shop in Georgetown, started building a house with plans for an upstairs swimming pool, less than a 100 feet away from the seawall. One major problem, he is driving forty 100-plus-foot piles into the ground using a drop hammer method, in a built up residential area. On Friday 18 August he assembled his workforce, equipment, lined up about 20 of these piles, and then tested one of them using the drop hammer. The vibrations sent shockwaves both literally and figuratively across the front half of the community comprising about 40 homes, including the famous RDC Region 4 staff compound. Mind you, on this very day, a home in another neighbouring village, LBI, crumbled, due to a weakened foundation, killing a child.

Experts will tell you the radius of vibrations is about 200 feet for a Hydraulic Press type of pile driving equipment. However, these guys are using a drop hammer, the crudest, outdated and disastrous pile driving equipment for built up areas. And in the absence of a soil test, reaching more resistant depths will worsen the vibrations waves. Residents faced a similar situation some 3-4 years ago when a telecommunications tower was installed to support the now infamous fibre optic cable project, whereby houses suffered immediate major structural cracks when the same type equipment was used.

This time around, there is at least 1 newly built concrete home in the immediate flight path of these vibration waves, while other residents have recently done concrete repairs to their homes, as such there would be no time to allow for curing and settling. Let alone the other homes less than 60 feet away. What is to be noted also, some structural damage may not show up immediately.

While other residents have made complaints to a variety of relevant authorities, the BV-Triumph NDC, Sea Defence Department of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI), the Environmental Protection Agency, the Regional Democratic Council, it appears the ball lies in the BV-Triumph NDC’s court (and by extension both the Ministry of Housing & Communities) regarding this construction loophole. Efforts to contact the Housing Ministry were futile. I used the term loophole since one complication faced by Sea Defence Department is that its jurisdiction is limited to 50 feet from the sea defence structure, because the previous Administration some years ago changed the law from over 250 feet jurisdiction, to facilitate similar type construction nearer to the sea wall, the most popular example being, Pradoville 2.

While the sea defence structure, which protects our 6 feet below coast line, is considered an industrial type construction, and has greater resistance, pile driving is occurring just 100 feet away, notably within the 200 feet radius for a more sophisticated type of equipment than the one currently used. In New Orleans, USA, similar to Guyana being below sea level, Hydraulic Presses are mandated by that state due to the risk of damage to its sea defence structures.

As such the primary problem lies with the BV-Triumph Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) led by its Chairman, Mr. Leyland Harcourt. The NDC has indicated to villagers that it has approved this “housing plan”, despite the complaints about this industrial styled construction and its considered impact on neighbouring homes. It was the Chairman himself who caught the perpetrators in the act some 2 months ago, stopped the pile driving exercise, took photographs, even lamented the damage to the parapet of the road leading into the construction site caused by dragging the piles in the wet mud, and so he has full first-hand knowledge.

He even said then he was amazed that such a pile driving method could be done so close to homes and sea defence structure. So what has changed since, what questions do we ask ourselves? Bear in mind the Chairman signs off on all property plans within an NDC. Some 20 years ago this large swathe of land was given to the Imam of this masjid under the pretext of a charitable hospital and similar projects. However, he has now sold large sections, at discounted prices, a portion of which, to this private owner. Is it important that the land was surveyed and demarcated some 4 years ago, but with no buyers lining up? Is it relevant that the NDC Chairman attends a Masjid run by the Seller of this land, a so-called prominent member of the BV-Triumph area?

For a house plan which contains a planned upper floor pool, one would think this to be a significant variation from a normal house plan, warranting the intervention of the Housing Ministry. Had the NDC flagged this concern, or had it been under pressure from any influential community member, the smart thing to have done was to further its doubts and the plan to the Housing Ministry, who has jurisdiction on complex construction plans. But, clearly if there is collusion or nepotism by the NDC, transparency is out the door. It is only one year ago (2nd August) that Kaieteur News published a letter on the failure of the BV/Triumph NDC. And as NDC wallows, the road, Dasrat Street Drive, in this very community, remains a bush trail, not surprisingly the piles were dragged through it!

To further complicate this story, somehow, several mangrove tress, initially planted by National Agricultural Research & Extension Institute (NAREI), in the sea near to the seawall, and directly opposite this planned pool house, have somehow suddenly disappeared in the past few months, coincidentally when the first pile driving attempt occurred. Any upper storied pool house would have unhindered ocean views, while the rest of coast-landers stare at bush!

As the piles are currently lined up in the air, Stonehenged-styled, we can only now await Sunday 20th August’s or Monday 21st August’s planned vibrations and shock waves, and enjoy systemic rocking of our homes, and allow immediate or creeping structural damage. To do otherwise would be to take the laws into our own hands. It is this wanton disregard for people’s lives and livelihood that led to the demise of the last Administration.

In the interim, at minimum, can the Government, Sea Defence Department of MPI, the EPA, NAREI, the Ministry of Housing, Ministry of Communities, the RDC, first halt the construction, conduct a review of due process, and even if somehow all is well, get the contractor to use a Hydraulic press to minimize vibration shocks? If not, by Tuesday 22nd August pile driving will be over and creeping structural damage would have already begun to step in. There are at least a dozen Hydraulic presses in Guyana, and we are well beyond the Stone Age era!
Concerned Citizen