Four years after concerns were first raised about the G$1.4 billion Port Kaituma stelling project, the facility remains unfinished, with A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament Sherrod Duncan accusing the Government of allowing critical infrastructure to languish while residents remain dependent on an ageing ferry service.
Duncan returned to the Port Kaituma site on Saturday with former Member of Parliament Ronald Cox and his team and said the project remains effectively at a standstill.
Residents told the delegation there had been “no meaningful movement at the site for more than a year,” according to Duncan, who said he has been raising concerns about the project since 2022.
“Four years later, Port Kaituma is still waiting,” he said.
The MP’s renewed criticism comes just weeks after the July 18 MV Barima tragedy, in which the vessel capsized while travelling to Port Kaituma, killing dozens of people and leaving families across Guyana demanding answers over the country’s maritime safety system.
Duncan argues that the unfinished stelling cannot be examined separately from that disaster.
The project was intended to improve maritime access to Port Kaituma and facilitate safer and improved vessel services, including the deployment of the MV Ma Lisha. Instead, Duncan contends, repeated delays left the community 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.”
He said that possibility now demands scrutiny of the Ministry of Public Works and the decisions made during the project’s development.
The government has said the MV Barima was operating within its required dry-docking cycle and had undergone dry-docking in 2024. Authorities have also announced investigations into the circumstances surrounding the disaster.
Duncan, however, said the warning signs surrounding the Port Kaituma project existed long before the tragedy.
He pointed to concerns over the suitability of the Log Pond site, the adequacy of geotechnical investigations, pile depths, soil movement, retaining-wall design and engineering supervision.
The project has also endured a succession of missed deadlines. Duncan said completion was initially expected in late 2023, before the deadline moved to April 2024, then the third quarter of 2024 and subsequently into 2026.
The contractor, International Import and Supplies, and consultant CEMCO Inc. must answer for their respective responsibilities, Duncan said, but he rejected any attempt to shift ultimate responsibility away from the Government.
“The contractor, International Import and Supplies, and consultant, CEMCO Inc., must account for their respective responsibilities, but Minister Edghill cannot contract out ministerial responsibility.”
Duncan said the Ministry commissioned the project, was responsible for overseeing approximately G$1.4 billion in taxpayers’ money, and had an obligation to ensure that the infrastructure was properly designed, supervised and completed.
He is demanding the release of the project’s engineering and geotechnical reports, supervision records, contract variations, payment records, remedial costs and explanations for each missed completion deadline.
He also wants the Port Kaituma project incorporated into the broader accountability process surrounding the MV Barima disaster.
“This is no longer merely the story of another delayed government project. It is about whether years of failed supervision left an ageing vessel in service when safer arrangements should already have been available.”
Duncan said the issue is therefore not simply about an incomplete wharf. It is about whether government failures in planning, supervision and execution contributed to a situation in which residents remained dependent on an ageing vessel.
He again called for Edghill’s removal.
“Ministerial responsibility must mean something.”
And for the families affected by the Barima disaster and the people of Port Kaituma, Duncan said the demand remains unchanged:
“For the families who lost loved ones, for the people of Port Kaituma and for taxpayers across Guyana, we reiterate our call: Edghill must go.”
