THE deadline for the Hope Canal project has once again been extended, this time from August 31 to December 31.

This was disclosed by Agriculture Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy during a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle at his Regent Road, Georgetown office.
The deadline for the project was initially set for June of this year, but was subsequently extended to the end of this month.
However, the deadline extension to the end of this year is not unexpected, since the contractors had expressed, during a visit by the parliamentary Natural Resources Committee, led by Minister Ramsammy and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), Mr. Lionel Wordsworth last month, that they will not be able to complete the work by the August 31 deadline.
The US $15M Hope Canal project, which is expected to be the answer to the flooding experienced in the Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary areas during rainy periods, has four components: the over 10-kilometre channel from the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC), a bridge across the public road, a conservancy head regulator with three gates, and sluice at the canal’s Atlantic end which will have eight gates.
The canal is being excavated by the NDIA, while BK International was granted the contract for the bridge, DIPCON Engineering is constructing the sluice and Courtney Benn Contracting Services holds the contract for the head regulator.
Ramsammy told this publication that the contractors are not subject to any penalties for the deadline extension, but will definitely have to face penalties if the project is not completed by December 31.
Nevertheless, he said that real progress has been made on the project and the Ministry and the NDIA are working with the contractors to ensure that the new deadline is met.
“If you go now you will see that we have got the canal out to the road and we have begun to construct the canal north of the road towards the sea. The bridge is now focused on the road itself, the access road to the bridge. Progress is made there, so I don’t think we should have difficulties with those two components,” he explained.
The minister further related that progress has also been made at the head regulator and the sluice, noting that the casting is almost completed at the head regulator, and construction of the outward sluice has also advanced.
Meanwhile, during the visit to the project site last month, team leader for CEMCO/SRKN Engineering, the supervision consultants of the project, Mr. Raymond Latchmansingh had stated that there are provisions for the contractors to request an extension.
He had stated that it is likely the deadline will be extended to December 31 and stressed that the project is at a stage where it can be done by that time.
Latchmansingh also said that the extension does not mean that there will be a requirement for addition funds, noting that the contract time is related to quantity of work done.
Dr Ramsammy had at that time expressed satisfaction with the work that has been done on the Hope Canal project so far.
He related that he has had discussions with the engineers, from the NDIA, as well as from the consultant and the contracting firms, and that he has been assured that the rest of the work will be finished with greater rapidity than the first part of the work. He noted that the most time consuming parts of the project has been completed.
Moreover, members of the parliamentary opposition, who are a part of the Natural Resources Committee, had expressed satisfaction at the progress made on the project and the fact that it is being done by young Guyanese people.