– NDIA claims considered hollowFor several years now the Hope Canal project has been touted as an absolute necessity and a panacea for the many drainage and irrigation problems that plague the communities surrounding the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC).Among the myriad justifications for the project and its immense price tag- a three billion dollar burden that is to be shouldered entirely by taxpayers- is that of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority’s (NDIA) claim that they have cut excavation costs on the project by some 60 to 80 percent by the simple expedient of undertaking the excavation works themselves with a newly purchased fleet of excavators.In a report issued in December 2009 by the consulting engineers for the Hope Canal Project,Cheap Soccer Jerseys, a figure of $1,088,Wholesale Baseball Jerseys 2018,050,600 was quoted for the excavation works on the project. The report breaks down the cost of the excavation to a basic hourly rate of $12,000 per hour.However, a 30 percent surcharge is also factored in and is listed as “Surveying, Supervision, Overhead and Profit”,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, and the new hourly rate of excavation rises to $15,600.Kaieteur News contacted several engineers to see if this was a ‘reasonable’ hourly rate. It was pointed out that the industry average for an excavation is between $8,Cheap Jerseys Authentic,000 and $10,000. However, one engineer, who consults both locally and internationally pointed out that after factoring in the challenging conditions on certain parts of the proposed canal, he would still have bid a rate of $6,500 per hour if public bidding had been allowed.His explanation was that given the immense volume of earth to be moved and the number of machine hours necessary, such a rate would still allow an engineering firm the opportunity to make a large profit.Critics of the NDIA’s Hope Canal have long been a thorn in the side of the folks at the Ministry of Agriculture. Retired engineer, Charles Sohan is one such critic, who recently rebutted the agency’s claims that he is guilty of “nitpicking and misrepresentation of the facts”.Sohan came under fire because he chose to comment in a letter that he felt there was no reason to call a halt to the excavation works on the project as a result of inclement weather. He pointed out that there were other parts of the canal where no amount of bad weather could merit a halt to excavation works and as such the NDIA should have just transferred their efforts to that area.Part of the NDIA’s fleet of excavatorsIn a letter published in the Stabroek News,Wholesale China Jerseys, Sohan raised several points where Corporate Secretary of the NDIA, Omadatt Chandan fell short of the mark in his explanations. Among these were the Ministry’s claims of transparency and the efficacy of their cost cutting measures in this endeavour when there was no evidence to back them up.Sohan says in his letter, “In his usual evasive style,Cheap Jerseys Paypal, Mr. Chandan has listed a vast range of D&I works undertaken with NDIA equipment, and claims cost cuts by as much as 60 to 80 percent, but with no facts and figures to support his claim or to show what the capital costs for the equipment purchased and their operating costs are to undertake these various works, his claims could only be considered hollow. After all, these NDIA expenditures have to be compared with a contractor’s costs and only by public tendering could these comparisons be made and support NDIA’s cost cuts claims or otherwise.”