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Costly to repair old manual koker winch – Region 3 REO
Kaieteur News – Although there were two “old manual koker winches’ available to replace the stolen ones at Bagotsville and Nismes on the West Bank of Demerara (WBD), repairing them has proven to be costly.
A manual koker winch at Ruimveldt, Georgetown.
At least this was what the Regional Executive Officer (REO) of the Region Three district, Jagnarine Somwar, explained to Kaieteur News yesterday.
This newspaper on Tuesday had reported that thieves had stolen two koker winches from the aforementioned West Bank villages and that it was estimated that replacing them can cost around $5.1M if new winches had to be purchased.
However, it was noted in the article that this amount might not have to be spent since there were two used ones available.
In an update, yesterday, the Region’s REO, Somwar, told Kaieteur News that, despite there were used winches available, monies are being spent to fix and repair them for installation and it is proving to be costly due to fact that there are needed quickly.
“The winches had to be taken to the workshop for the teeth and gears to be fixed”, said Somwar.
Somwar shared that repairs on one of the old winches has already been completed and installed.
He is hopeful that repairs on the second can be finished by tomorrow.
The REO said that, at the moment, he does not know how much is the overall cost for the repairs, but he is positive that it won’t cost as much as the price for two new ones.
Somwar added that a decision was also taken to fortify the winches by casting a base with concrete to prevent them from being easily stolen again.
He continued that the Region will move to fortify all of the koker winches within its district to avoid more losses via theft.
Apart from this, the REO said that a meeting has been held to address the issue of negligent koker attendants.
He explained that they would open the kokers and then leave it unattended for hours, and would only return when it is time to close it and this, in his view, could allow for thieves to take advantage of their absence.
While it will not be required for them to be present at the koker 24/7, the region is trying to ensure that koker attendants complete their full shift or hours.
Meanwhile, as investigations continue into the stolen winches, it is believed that the thieves might have gained access to the kokers from the Demerara River.
They were led to this conclusion because of the “location of the kokers and the size and weight of the winches”.
The Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, has since urged persons to desist from such acts and warned that tampering with government structures is a criminal offence, and persons found deliberately interfering with any such structure will be made to face the full force of the law.
Koker winches are used to open and close the sluice doors of a koker, when necessary.
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