MINISTER of Agriculture Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has dismissed allegations that his ministry has purchased parts locally for the pumps supplied by Surendra Engineering Company out of India.

During a presentation before the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources and the Environment, at Parliament Building on Monday, Minister Ramsammy was questioned by Opposition Member of Parliament, Joe Harmon as to whether these allegations that seemed to find its way in a recent newspaper article were true.

The minister said in 2012 the contract was signed for the 14 pumps to be supplied by Surendra Engineering Company; six mobile and eight fixed site pumps, but initially the programme consisted of 39 pumps which will be placed across the coastland of Guyana. However, only 14 are to be supplied by Surendra.

“The Surendra 14 pumps are a part of the 39 pumps, so some of these stations are using pumps that are supplied by a local contractor who purchased it from an agency outside,” the minister was quoted by the Government Information Agency as having told the Committee.

GINA said the minister then added that “some of the pump stations like the one at Wales were given a contract to build and install a pump that was not utilising a Surendra pump.”

In his attempt to give an example of what he meant, he also pointed out that “when we commission the Paradise/Enterprise pump in a few weeks it will be a pump that was from the Surendra 14, but a station that was constructed by a local contractor.”

Other stations that will be utilising the Surendra pumps include Canal Number One, Windsor Forest, Rose Hall, Gangaram, Eversham, Number 43 Village and Lima among others.

The US$4M award was given to Surendra Engineering Company after competitive bidding and approval by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board, in 2012. The company was not contracted to build the machines, but rather to supply them, fabricate or procure from another firm, for drainage purposes.