Surendra pumps lying idle while rain pounds coastland

Jun 08, 2014 News

While the rainy season is already creating hardship for some residents along the Coast, the recently imported Surendra Engineering Corporation Limited pumps which have cost Guyanese taxpayers $800M and counting, are

Another Surendra pump lies outside a workshop waiting to be transported to its correct site.

lying idle waiting to be installed.
Kaieteur News understands that eight of the 14 pumps ordered by the Government arrived in the country a month ago.
This is in direct contradiction to statements made by Minister of Agriculture Leslie Ramsammy who had stated in November last year that all 14 pumps which the Ministry had bought from India had been delivered.
According to a source, while President Donald Ramotar recently commissioned one of the operational pumps at Rose Hall, the installation of others is awaiting the completion of site construction.
The source could not say when the various sites will be completed, although Agriculture Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy had assured since last year that works were ongoing at the sites where the pumps are to be installed.
Earlier this year, Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Lionel Wordsworth had stated that civil works were ongoing at Canal Polder and Skeldon to facilitate the installation of pumps.
At the same time, he added that the preliminary stage of civil works is ongoing at Windsor Forest, West Coast Demerara and work was to commence at Enterprise/Paradise drainage block on the East Coast of Demerara.
Over the past week this newspaper observed four of the pumps lying outside a workshop on the East Coast Demerara Public Road, near Strathspey.
This newspaper was told that the pumps were being prepared for deployment to sites where preparatory works are still ongoing.
Already there are reports of flooding in sections of the East Coast of Demerara, even in areas where pump stations exist.
The procurement of the pumps has been a controversial issue ever since the Government handed Surendra Engineering a US$4 million contract over two years ago. The pumps were bought through an Indian line of credit.