New problems have developed at the recently-constructed million-dollar roll-on, roll-off ferry stelling at Good Hope, on the Essequibo Coast.
This has forced Management of the Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD)to return operations to the old Adventure stelling.
Acting General Manager of Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD), Mr. Khevin Trim, when contacted by the Chronicle, confirmed that a structural failure had occurred at the approximately $600M facility.
Sources told the Chronicle that a top level meeting was held sometime after midday yesterday, involving the Prime Minister, Trim, officials from the Ministry of Local Government and the contracting firm, BK International.
Efforts to contact Trim following the meeting proved futile.
However, Managing Director of the BK International, Brian Tiwarie, in a telephone interview last evening, was adamant that his company is in no way at fault.
According to him, the problem stemmed from a recently constructed five-ton steel stage, not by his company, as a modification.
He further explained that additional support was not put in place to offset the additional weight.
Tiwarie says he would therefore like a thorough investigation to be carried out in order that his company’s name could be cleared of any wrong-doing.
Use of the facility, funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), was anxiously awaited by residents of the Essequibo Coast, in particular businessmen, as at least 90 minutes of the current travelling time from the Adventure stelling, would be reduced.
The Good Hope wharf, which extends 400 feet into the Essequibo River, consists of a reinforced concrete frame supported on land by timber piles.