[www.inewsguyana.com] – The East Demerara Water Conservancy’s (EDWC) Hope Canal, located at Hope, East Coast Demerara, and which was expected to come to full fruition by December 31, 2014 has faced a slight set-back due to some over-run in costs.
The four-component project, when completed shortly, is expected to offer a real solution to the risk of the failure of the EDWC, a situation that has the potential to occur. Already the bridge across the canal has been commissioned, with the canal itself and the head regulator completed, while the eight-door sluice too is close to completion.
However with the slight delay in the project, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon stated, during his post Cabinet media briefing, that when the project is completed, along with the defect liability period, netting off will have to be done.
“Once you have expenditure that cannot be recovered, expenditure will have to be made. You wouldn’t believe it’s possible to have a billion dollar project that is delayed because millions are outstanding, so Government will complete it if it is needed. If defects have to be corrected, and funds are not available, you can’t recover it from the consultant, we will have to correct it,” Dr. Luncheon declared.
He acknowledged that while there is expenditure which contractors and consultants will have to bear, for the purposes of the over-run, it might be a big sum, but it also depends on what can be recovered.
Government embarked on the US$15M Hope Canal Project, since it believed that this major undertaking will be the answer to the flooding, experienced in the Mahaica/Mahaicony Abary areas, annually during the rainy periods.
The work at the canal was carried out by young Guyanese engineers, with consultants on the job at the various sites. The relief channel was excavated by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, whilst another component of the project, the construction of the conservancy head regulator, comprising three gates, was built closer to the conservancy. [Extracted and modified from GINA]
