Good Hope stelling
Residents of Essequibo may have to endure using the dilapidated Adventure stelling for a little longer.
And, it appears that more millions will have to be expended before the  recently constructed $600M new stelling at Good Hope will become operational again. Media operatives yesterday visited the facility at the request of Mr Brian Tiwarie, Managing Director of B.K. Group of Companies, which was contracted to construct the million-dollar stelling, and saw first-hand  the damage to sections of the extended ramp, the metal rails, and broken parts of the concrete walkway.
A wide gap was also observed between the section of the wharf on the land and what extends into the sea.
It was as a result of the structural failure which occurred Tuesday that officials of the Ministry of Transport and Harbours Department were forced to abort the use of the facility which they had begun using just days before.
Veteran media consultant, Mr Kit Nacimento, who handles public relations for BK Group, told the media at the conclusion of the visit that from the standpoint of engineers of the company, “it appears that the structural integrity of the facility was compromised.”
Tiwarie views the decision by T&HD to have immediately cease use of the facility as one of “wisdom”, and pointing to a recently installed five-ton steel ramp, not by his company, remarked  “this thing that they put hey gun kill people.”
Probed by the media for answers as to why problems have developed so early and who might be at fault, Tiwarie maintained an earlier charge he made to this newspaper, that his company is “in no-way responsible” for the damage , and emphasised that his company built the stelling “according to design and in full compliance with all technical specifications.”
The inclusion of the steel ramp is among modifications which were effected by the Ministry of Works, and after BK Group had handed over the stelling with a completion certification on January 19, 2010.
The Ministry had claimed that during an earlier test run of the facility, some problems were encountered. It moved to correct the apparent fault and an additional flotation unit was installed. However, during that process, a section of the structure reportedly sank during a high tide.
Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn, was reported in another section of the media as saying that during the installation of one of the new flotation units, parts known as “scow ends” were removed as the persons involved in the process  assumed that they were not necessary.
The Minister admitted that a mistake was made, as the `scow ends’ play an important part in helping to keep the pontoon afloat.
Yesterday, Tiwarie was accompanied by his engineer, Mr Julian Archer, who incidentally worked as a Project Engineer with Vkab Engineering, a construction company headquartered in Trinidad,  and which had supervised the construction of the facility.
Attention was drawn to the two new pontoons  which are attached differently to the ones he installed.
Attention was also drawn to the rail on the section where the roll-on roll-off ferry will berth that appeared to have been cut and then rejoined.
Also, the media were shown a difference between the size of the original steel beam and the subsequent attachment, and that there was no additional support for the ramp.

Tiwarie says his engineers are adamant that the new ramp should have been installed on the ferry and not to the stelling, where it is now.
Construction of the Good Hope stelling was made possible by the Caribbean Development Bank and under the Government’s Community Services Enhancement Project( CSEP).
The wharf is a reinforced concrete frame supported on land by 50 timber piles and with the 400 feet over water supported by reinforced pre-cast concrete piles, while the decking is of varied sizes of pre-cast concrete slabs sealed and covered with concrete istu slabs, along with a metal protective handrail along the perimeter.
To facilitate the mooring of the vessels would be a floating bridge and a pontoon.
Of the more than 365 piles being used for the project, over 200 had to be driven into the sea using the seaward side of the project for access.