HGP Nightly News – Years of delays at the Port Kaituma stelling are now being dragged into the fallout from the deadly MV Barima disaster, with APNU arguing that a project meant to improve maritime access to Region One could have changed the route’s story long before tragedy struck.
APNU Member of Parliament Sherod Duncan said the roll-on/roll-off facility was supposed to make it possible for newer and more suitable vessels to operate in and out of Port Kaituma. Instead, he said, the community remained dependent on the ageing MV Barima.
Duncan has been raising concerns about the stelling since 2022 and claims that the facility is still incomplete. During his latest visit, he said he saw no work taking place at the site.
His argument is blunt: had the facility been finished, the MV Ma Lisha could have been operating the route instead of the Barima.
“Had that stelling been properly completed, the boat that was bought, instead of it being turned to a party boat, would’ve been working that route, and docking at that roll on, roll off stelling,” Duncan said.
That claim now takes on added weight in the wake of the July 18 Barima disaster, which left 73 people dead, with another 30 still unaccounted for.
APNU has long maintained that completing the Port Kaituma facility would have allowed the government to shift to improved vessel services and reduce, or eliminate, reliance on the Barima. The party is now arguing that the unfinished project should be examined alongside the other decisions and failures that preceded the tragedy.
But the questions are not only about delays.
MP Ganesh Mahipaul is demanding answers over the money already spent on the project. He alleged that design and structural problems at the stelling have cost taxpayers more than G$500 million.
Mahipaul identified CEMCO Inc. as the consultant involved in the design and supervision of the project and alleged that a faulty design led to smaller steel reinforcement being used, among other complications, before portions of the structure failed.
“It has costed this nation so far over $500 million, but no action has been taken against CEMCO Inc. as yet. None,” Mahipaul said.
He also questioned why CEMCO continues to receive government contracts despite the problems he alleges are associated with the Port Kaituma project.
For residents of Region One, Duncan said, the consequences are being felt in their pockets.
With regular ferry services disrupted following the Barima tragedy, private boats and air travel are being used to fill the gaps. Duncan said passengers travelling between Port Kaituma and Mabaruma can face additional boat fares, while businesses are left paying more to transport goods.
The opposition MP also pointed back to the period before the stelling suffered its structural problems, saying concerns had already been raised about the project. According to Duncan, the government defended the facility at the time.
Now APNU wants the entire project placed under the microscope as part of the broader accountability questions arising from the Barima tragedy.
The opposition is calling for scrutiny of the stelling’s design, supervision, construction delays and expenditure, and, perhaps most importantly, whether completing it on time could have allowed a different vessel arrangement to take over the Port Kaituma route before the Barima disaster occurred.
That is a question APNU says cannot simply be brushed aside as another unfinished infrastructure project.
