Ramsammy to discuss deadline with Hope Canal contractors today

November 16, 2013, By KNews, Filed Under News, Source

Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy will be meeting with the contractors of the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) Northern Relief Channel at Hope/Dochfour today, to discuss the project’s looming December 2013 deadline.

According to the Minister, the purpose of the meeting is to have the three contracted entities restate their contractual responsibility towards the project.

Works ongoing on the eight-gated high level outfall in July last.

The Government Information Agency had reported that of all the structures, Dr. Ramsammy is particularly concerned about the contractor of the eight-door sluice meeting the deadline.

He was quoted as saying “I have grave concern about the eight-gated sluice at the sea-side. I am not comfortable that progress is being made. We had significant progress made in September and in October, unfortunately many opportunity days in November have been lost and that created concern for me, and therefore I am reaching the contractors to once again reiterate Government’s position that we will not tolerate any nonchalant attitude and we would not tolerate the contractors going into 2014.”

The Hope/Dochfour Canal is more than a year behind schedule. During a recent interview with Kaieteur News, Dr. Ramsammy said that the Guyana Government is finally preparing to impose the penalty clause on contractors, should the Hope/Dochfour Canal not be completed by next month.

He noted that his Ministry has been quite patient with the three contracted companies-BK International, Courtney Benn Contracting Services and DIPCON Engineering, especially as it relates to accommodating extensions of proposed deadlines.

The construction of the $3B Hope/Dochfour Northern Relief Channel was a venture undertaken by the former Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, who estimated an 18-month completion, when construction commenced in February 2011.

Dr. Ramsammy has stressed that “The government will not accept another extension.”

One of the largest infrastructure initiatives in Guyana’s history, overall works on the Hope/Dochfour Canal is approximately 80 percent completed.

It has been purported that the relief channel would have the capacity to withstand floods greater than that which occurred in 2005.

So far, the three-gated Head Regulator- the component assigned to BK International, is near completion.

The excavation of the 10.3km long earthen channel, which is being carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture, is about 90 percent complete. The process of shaping the dam is currently ongoing, with 30 percent already done.

“It has been anticipated that the canal would be completed last, since this is dependent on the completion of the other structures,” Dr. Ramsammy said.

The channel is being constructed to ease the pressure of water on the East Demerara Water Conservancy at times when it reaches its maximum capacity, releasing it into the Atlantic Ocean, via an eight-gated high level outfall, the component which is being constructed by Courtney Benn Contracting Services.

Meanwhile, the bridge, sited on the East Coast Public Road, is about 80 percent complete.

Works are being carried out by DIPCON Engineering. Dr. Ramsammy said that the process of building an incline road to the bridge is also currently ongoing.

Minister Ramsammy pointed out that while he would not entertain an extension of the project’s deadline, the works being carried out so far are impressive.

“Even people close to me had said that this project would be impossible, but today, for us to be talking about a deadline, is a major accomplishment,” Dr. Ramsammy said, adding that he is hopeful that none of the contractors would let him down by failing to meet the December deadline. The project is being spearheaded by Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, Lionel Wordsworth, and is being supervised by Raymond Latchman Singh and Dr. Ramsammy.