DESPITE receiving severe criticism for alleged substandard work having been done along the East Bank Berbice thoroughfare, Contractor Nauth has been awarded another contract, valued at $350M.

According to Regional Chairman Mr. David Armogan, the rationale is that it is difficult for a contractor to repair what is irreparable.

“Sometimes a contractor gets a bad name for something he himself cannot do better. Even Peter Lewis [another contractor] …the work he did has returned to the way it was before. Once the rain begins to fall, all the patchwork will return to (their) poor original state,” Armogan rationalized.

He, however, noted that the contract is for the stretch of road from Bermine to Light Town Village, East Bank Berbice.
According to Armogan, the Chief Planning Officer is expected in the region shortly, and he would be looking at the bad part of the road, from Tacama Turn to Bermine.

“That’s where most people live…. Sometimes it boggles my own mind that, why should we expend monies…. However, there is an explanation for that…. The Inter-American Development Bank [IDB] (is funding) the first phase, which is about US$7M…. the whole road has to be redug…there is no foundation on that road…. The IDB has already done the consultation and had already done the design for the road, and they have returned to explain the design to the people. Once the design phase is completed, the monies will be released, but I do not know when,” he said.

The chairman, however, admitted that the East Bank Berbice roadway is vital for economic activities, as it is the only area in the region where cultivable lands are available and where there is an increase progression of rice cultivation.

Meanwhile, in June 2013, Armogan had described the ongoing issue in relation to the East Bank Berbice Road as “a contentious issue which we are trying to dissolve all the time.”
Recalling, he told the Guyana Chronicle, “We have warranted to the Ministry of Public Works $20M out of our own (Region Six) budget, which would have been used for the maintenance of roads in Region Six this year.
We had taken that money because we have a limit on what we can spend, and they [Ministry of Public Works] have added $19M, and Nauth [contractor ] has been given a contract to do a maintenance programme on that road (that would last) for the rest of this year. The maintenance work has been started, but when we inspected the road recently, we found that what Nauth is doing is not going to hold, it will be a waste of tax payers’ money,” he had emphasised.

“As far as I am concerned, it will be a waste of tax payers’ money…. I have asked the Ministry of Public Works to relook at that exercise, to look at what he (contractor) has been doing and change his scope of work, as it will be meaningless to scarify, throw some loam, throw some crusher run…. As soon as the rain falls (for) a couple of days, it will be displaced. So they have to look at another scope of works, and that is what the ministry is currently looking at. And hopefully, we will get some action within a couple of days. Thirty-nine million is a lot of money to go down the drain like that. That which is done presently cannot hold, so we need to see what else can be done.”

Meanwhile, Chairman of the East Bank Hire Car Association, Mr. Maxwell Semple, revealed that the ongoing works are of a substandard level and the contractor is not maintaining the thoroughfare as specified on the bill of quantities document.

As a result, Semple informed this newspaper, works have been stopped along the East Bank roadway, as the contractor was expected to fill the holes with reef sand, then crusher run, then asphalt.

“But what he is doing is that the potholes are being filled with reef stand and crusher run, and no asphalt. As the rains come, everything washes out in a matter of three/four days.I told the chairman [Regional] that the work must (be stopped) as it is a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

This newspaper was informed that officials from the Public Works Ministry, along with regional officials and concerned residents, inspected the stretch of road between the villages of Islington and Light Town, were dissatisfied, and have deemed the exercise “unacceptable.”

“At the rate he [the contractor] is going, within a month or two, $38M to $39M will finish and the residents will not benefit from the temporary relief,” Semple lamented.

In April 2013, President Donald Ramotar had assured residents that remedial works would continue on the East Bank Berbice roadway until the International Development Bank [IDB] approves a $20B loan to reconstruct the twenty-five-mile thoroughfare. Residents and hire car operators had protested the condition of the road by parking their vehicles to block access to the roadway and by blocking the roadway with derelict vehicles.