The State will have to source funds for corrective works
…says Dr. Luncheon
Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon, said there will be no “timely outcome” in making the $600M Supenaam Stelling operational, if those who did not get it right the first time are engaged a second time around to do corrective works. “Considerable sums of money have been used for the construction of that stelling and its operations are part and parcel of the strategic development of that end of the Essequibo Coast,” he said at his weekly press briefing yesterday.
In May this year, four days after the multi-million-dollar stelling opened to traffic in Essequibo, authorities were forced to close operations as a controversial roll-on/roll-off ramp buckled under the weight of vehicles.
Operations were hurriedly shifted back to the old Adventure Stelling to cater for the scores of vehicles that would have been stranded at Parika and in Region Two (Pomeroon/ Supenaam).
Additionally, prior to the commissioning, the stelling faced problems when a pontoon attached to the ramp sank.
Employees of the Ministry of the Public Works managed to salvage the pontoon and it was reportedly re-attached.
The HPS said, “The buck has to stop somewhere. We are going to pursue those who have, in one way or the other, failed to live up to expectations and contractual obligations.”
Luncheon added the state will have to secure the funds for the correction and rehabilitation of the stelling, and, at the same time, pursue other recourses to “make the defaulters pay.”
“My feeling is, and I am not saying that this will be the definitive position, that we will have to finance the rehabilitation, whilst simultaneously pursuing recovery from those who erred, those who were at fault, and those who did not comply with their contractual obligations,” he said.
The stelling would have been a major ease for travellers to and from the Region Two area, as commuting time using ferries from the stelling was expected to cut travel down by at least 90 minutes. A reduction in fuel costs for the ferries was also expected.
Minister of Public Works and Transport, Robeson Benn had confirmed that the old stelling at Adventure, a fixture for several decades for travellers to and from the Essequibo Coast, had been closed and all new stelling operations would have been  conducted at the new facility at Good Hope, Supenaam.