Director-General of the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) Stephen Thomas on Wednesday revealed that the second of three wreckages that were slated to be removed from the Demerara River was successfully done.
Public Works Minister, Juan Edgehill had announced back in January that the first wreckage was successfully removed.
“At the time when the Minister did the press conference 1 of 3 was removed, well I am pleased to report that its two of three that have been removed and the contractor is working on removing the third, which is the final one with this contract,” he related during an interview on Wednesday.
Late last year, Dutch maritime solutions provider, Koole Contractors was contracted by MARAD to remove the three wreckages from the Demerara River to the tune of $787.6 million.
The contract was signed following unsuccessful attempts in the past to remove the wreckages.
The DG stated that while these were not directly in but near the Demerara River channel, they were extremely dangerous and obstructed the safe navigation of vessels. “They were extremely, extremely dangerous wrecks.”
Thomas added that they are five more wreckages near the said channel that can be dangerous to the navigations of ships which MARAD wishes to be removed as well.
Meanwhile, the DG further noted that they are a number of wreckages in other channels in some of Guyana’s main channels while noting that it is very costly to remove same.
