HGP Nightly News – After visiting the unfinished G$1.4 billion Port Kaituma stelling on Sunday, Opposition MP Sherod Duncan declared the project “effectively at a standstill” and renewed demands for Public Works Minister Juan Edghill to resign.
Duncan toured the site with former parliamentarian Ronald Cox and other team members, saying residents reported little meaningful progress for more than a year despite shifting completion deadlines and repeated government assurances.
The APNU parliamentarian sought to place the delayed project within the wider investigation of the July 18 MV Barima tragedy.
He argued that the stelling was intended to modernise maritime transportation into Port Kaituma and support improved ferry services, including the deployment of the MV Ma Lisha.
According to Duncan, its prolonged non-completion left residents dependent on the ageing MV Barima.
“Had Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill ensured proper planning, competent engineering, rigorous supervision and timely completion of this project, that dependence could have ended before tragedy struck,” Duncan said.
The assertion establishes a political argument but not a proven causal link between the delayed stelling and the disaster.
Determining whether an operational Port Kaituma facility would have resulted in the earlier replacement of the MV Barima would require evidence about government deployment plans, the MV Ma Lisha’s availability and the technical requirements of the new stelling.
Duncan nevertheless maintained that those questions should form part of the broader accountability process.
He said concerns had persisted over the suitability of the Log Pond construction site, the adequacy of geotechnical investigations, pile depths, soil movement, retaining-wall design and engineering supervision.
According to Duncan, the project’s projected completion moved from late 2023 to April 2024, then to the third quarter of 2024 and eventually into 2026.
The latest official construction schedule, percentage completed and anticipated final cost were not included in the information provided.
Duncan said contractor International Import and Supplies and engineering consultant CEMCO Inc. should explain their respective roles in the delays and technical difficulties.
He argued, however, that responsibility could not be confined to the private companies because the Ministry of Public Works commissioned and supervised the project.
“Ministerial responsibility must mean something,” Duncan said.
The parliamentarian called for the public release of the project’s engineering and geotechnical reports, supervision records, contract variations, payments and remedial costs.
He also demanded a detailed explanation of why successive deadlines were missed and whether taxpayers would face additional expenses to correct construction or design problems.
Neither Edghill, International Import and Supplies nor CEMCO was quoted responding to Duncan’s latest claims in the information supplied. Their accounts would be necessary to establish the project’s current condition, the causes of the delays and how responsibility should be divided.
Duncan insisted that investigators examining the MV Barima tragedy should also determine whether the stelling delays prolonged Region One’s reliance on the ageing vessel.
Until the engineering records, deployment plans and contractual documents are examined, that remains an allegation requiring investigation rather than an established cause of the disaster.
For Duncan, however, years of delays on a billion-dollar transport project are sufficient to justify political consequences.
