| – Kaieteur News stands by storyThe bridge that contractor Roopan Ramotar (inset) said he was paid $26.3 million to complete, but which the Ministry of Agriculture now claims is not part of works in Ramotar’s contract. The Ministry of Agriculture has claimed that the bridge at Ruby backdam, which was shown on Page One of yesterday’s Kaieteur News (August 24,Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping, 2009) was built a decade ago,Aron Baynes Jersey, but this claim does not stand, based on information supplied to this newspaper by the contractor involved.Frederick Flatts, the Senior Civil Engineer with the Agricultural Sector Development Unit (ASDU), in a media release,Cheap Hockey Jerseys, accused Kaieteur News of “callous reporting and mischief to manufacture a perception of over-priced projects and wastage.” Flatts went on to accuse this newspaper of carrying out “a dishonest campaign intended to discredit the hard work of the sector to bring improvements to farming conditions.”The photograph published was taken on August 14, 2009, when Kaieteur News accepted an invitation by the Ministry to inspect projects being executed in the Drainage and Irrigation Sector.Frederick Flatts, Senior Civil Engineer with the ASDUAt that time, reporters from this newspaper visited projects being executed by Essequibo contractor, Roopan Ramotar, popularly known as ‘Fowl Cock’ who has a $385 million contract which covers the construction of drainage and irrigation structures,Cheap NBA Gear, building/repairing bridges and rehabilitation of roads.Flatts claimed that the Agricultural Support Services Project has not constructed any bridge at Ruby Backdam as published on the front page of the August 24, 2009 edition of the Kaieteur News.The Ministry of Agriculture also claimed that the other media houses that attended the site visit on August 14, 2009 “can easily verify that no bridge in the Ruby Backdam was identified as complete or under construction, let alone the mention of any cost.”This newspaper would not comment on the work of other media houses, but notes that the only other private media on the assignment was Evening News.On the visit to Ruby Backdam, Kaieteur News reporters noted that a section of the bridge had fallen into the canal (as the photo indicates) and specifically asked Mr Ramotar if the bridge in question was part of his contract. He responded in the affirmative, and said it was completed a month ago.When this newspaper inquired about the cost of bridge, he said he did not have the information at hand, and said he would provide the cost following the inspection tour. On the evening of the same date, a Kaieteur News reporter contacted Mr Ramotar via telephone to ask him for the project cost.He did not have the information as yet.On the morning of August 15, it was the very contractor who himself contacted the Kaieteur News reporter via telephone to supply the cost of the bridge – $26.3 million – as reported.When the decision was made to publish the photo, the reporter again contacted the contractor for confirmation of the cost involved in constructing the bridge,Cheap NHL Jerseys, and again,Al Horford Jersey, he gave the same figure – $26.3 million.Kaieteur News therefore stands by its story. |
