…$420M Contract being reviewed

RESIDENTS of Leguan Island in the Essequibo River are concerned that the stelling, which many of them use on a daily basis, could collapse at any moment given the urgent repairs that have been lacking for more than a year now.

Two rice farmers, Mahandra Tullaram and Ganesh Nandram, told Guyana Chronicle on Monday while crossing on a boat from Leguan to Parika, that they use the stelling on a daily basis only because of the kind of business that they do. Otherwise, the men said they are fearful for their lives as the stelling can collapse at any moment.

A contract, valued at $420M, was awarded almost a year ago to Kalan Maraj, but the works remain at a standstill. Vice Chairman of Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara), Sheik Ayube, told this publication on Tuesday that Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Jaipaul Sharma visited the island about two months ago, and informed that there were some problems with the contract and that it needed to be revised.

According to Ayube, the engineer who prepared the contract did not include costs for piles, and hence the project is at a standstill. Meanwhile, the piles underneath the stelling have decayed and hence there is no support there.

Meanwhile, Tullaram, a rice farmer of Belfield, Leguan, who transports paddy off of the idea almost daily, said he takes a chance every day to travel on the stelling only because he has to get his produce sold. “Presently, we working at a loss because we can’t bring the amount of load. Normally we take like 170 to 200 bags of paddy and now we can only take 150 bags. When we’re coming back, we also have to come with less load. Only a chance abi ah tek to come on it,” he said.

Tullaram is of the view that the amount of money spent on the stelling so far for persons to conduct surveys and checks could have been used to fix the stelling.
In the past, Tullaram’s vehicle fell into the river when the stelling was being repaired. “They didn’t nail down the boards back and one of the beams gave away. Plenty times my vehicles get damaged and I get no compensation.”

“The contractor doing cheap work and everybody passing money. The spent millions of dollars to repair the stelling not so long ago and it came back to square one. The money that they spending to repair this stelling, they can open the back stelling and do the road,” the rice farmer offered.

Nandram, of Endeavor Village, pointed out that simply walking on the stelling can cause you to feel the shaking, especially if a vehicle is passing. “We don’t know what the contractor is doing but the stelling never come to this state before. The waiting room…if you go to buy ticket and that thing fall in with you in there, you can’t come out; you have to drown right in there.”

Nandram said life would be at a standstill if the stelling comes down. “What’s the use they gave us roads, lights; everything we get and the stelling can’t fix? That’s the main thing. If we don’t have the stelling, we can’t get goods in Leguan.”
Residents had earlier told this publication that the Leguan Stelling is standing on God’s mercy. A section of it had to be cordoned off earlier this year, and the contractor has since refused to disclose any information regarding the works there.

Maraj, who received the contract for works on the stelling since last year walked away from Guyana Chronicle’s team when asked for the date that the contract was signed. “I can’t remember that,” he said as he was leaving.
Almost every day, huge trucks and other vehicles carrying animals traverse the stelling. The boards are all loose and the sound coming from them as the vehicles pass over is horrifying.