Forensic audit requested into overpasses elevators

Jan 30, 2021 News

The Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill

Kaieteur News – The Ministry of Public Works has requested Auditor General (AG), Deodat Sharma, to conduct a forensic audit into the installment of five elevators at the East Bank Demerara pedestrian overpasses. The lifts have cost taxpayers some $61M.
In the letter addressed to Sharma, the Public Works Ministry recalled that the contract, under the Inter-American Development (IDB)-funded ‘Road Improvement and Rehabilitation Programme: Prioritized Intervention,’ was entered into with Trinidadian company, RBP Lifts, for the installation of five elevators.
However, before the delayed commissioning of the five overpasses in August 2019, it was found that the $61M elevators, which had been installed since 2018, were defective and warranted repairs.In the letter, it was recalled that these elevators were purchased from RBP Lifts, and had arrived in Guyana in February 2018. The installation commenced on June 11, 2018 with the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DBHC), which took responsibility to maintain and clean the overpass and immediate surroundings daily.

Passengers trapped in the Peter’s Hall elevator

The elevators were commissioned by the supplier with the maintenance period commencing on November 1, 2018, for one year. Personnel had been identified by the DHBC to be trained for operation and maintenance of the elevators, which were also said to be manned around the clock.
The letter went on to say that the fourth quarterly maintenance was undertaken by technician, Thaddeus De Freitas, along with the DHBC personnel and buttressed by the support of technical information contained in the elevator manuals.
Despite being responsible for the elevators, the letter notes that the DHBC did not operate any of the five elevators as per the agreement. The elevators remained closed and unused.
“During this period, several incidents of vandalism occurred, including the cutting and damaging of cables, theft of lights, broken glass and an elevator door,” the document stated. In all of these incidents, the Ministry had to carry out the repairs and replacement, since the DHBC could not provide any video footage of the incidents.
The letter went on to remind that the pedestrian overpass elevators were commissioned on August 2019 and became operational to the public. For many, it was breath of relief, but shortly after the commissioning, the public observed several technical issues with the elevators. There were reports of the doors not opening or closing, errors displayed on the elevator monitors for faults on board, emergency errors, and even cases of the elevator malfunctioning and trapping people inside for hours.
In a bid to repair these errors and malfunctions, and while still in the defects liability period, the DHBC had reached out to technician, De Freitas. However, he was only able to rectify a few.
Following the incident of persons being trapped in the elevator, Cibes Lifts GP, the manufacturer of the elevators, had responded and sent a technical team to inspect and repair the dysfunctional equipment. However, it was noted that shortly after the repairs, the elevators became defective again. In fact, the letter stated that the elevators would work excellently for 20 minutes and then start exhibiting the same issues of not locking, opening errors, control board faults and screen display malfunctioning.
Again, De Freitas attempted to rectify the same, but was unsuccessful.
Then in February 2020, the letter noted that the DHBC had stopped operating the elevators at Peter’s Hall, and at present, the four other elevators at Providence, Diamond, Houston and Eccles have various defects.
It is in light of the foregoing, that Minister Edghill requested the forensic audit, since he believes that the government did not get value for money in relation to the installation and operation of these five elevators.