In its continued effort to advance the agriculture sector, Government has embarked on several initiatives by taking a proactive approach in offering assistance to communities affected by uncontrollable natural phenomena such as flooding and El Nino.
As major emphasis continues to be placed on the development of key drainage structures, residents and farmers of Mahaica and Mahaicony today witnessed the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority’s commencement of work for the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) Northern Relief channel at Hope/Dochfour, East Coast Demerara.
Attendees during the commencement of work ceremony for the EDWC northern relief channel at Hope/Dochfour
In attendance were:- President Bharrat Jagdeo, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, Chief Executive Officer, NDIA, Lionel Wordsworth, CEMCO’s lead Consultant, Raymond Latchmansingh, representatives from the National Agricultural Research Institute, New Guyana Marketing Corporation, and technical officers from the Ministry.
Minister Persaud while addressing the gathering said that the project was initiated in 2008, when the country had recorded a higher level of rainfall, and pointed out that due to infrastructural work and investment by Government a major disaster was prevented.
Recognising the threat communities on the coast face, caused by the changing weather pattern, President Bharrat Jagdeo made a visionary announcement, hence the commencement of the project.
As it relates to the technical aspect of the project, Minister Persaud said that although it was a long awaited project the Administration was not going to commence work with undue haste.
“It is a project that we must carry out with some degree of urgency but we will not sacrifice technical work and studies, and the range of work that the experts would have to carry out on just getting this project done,” he said.
After going through a series of tests and analysis, levels of consultation and interactions were conducted with stakeholders and farming communities so as to garner different perspectives so that the project would have endured engineering scrutiny.
“We wanted to ensure that the process goes through the technical rigour so that at the end of the day, no one can say that we omitted some technical details. There may be matters of perspective but certainly the technical merits were clear. The critics out there cannot fault us for having a poor technical approach to this project,” he added.
Government has over the years maintained it commitment by putting the interest and wellbeing of farmers first and according to Minister Persaud the project is about investing in the agriculture sector and the development and safety of people not only on the East Coast but also in the Capital.
He is confident that once the project if executed successfully, it will bring tremendous benefit to farmers.
“On the East Coast we are investing in drainage and irrigation for current productive land, we are bringing back lands that were abandoned and retired for different reasons but also we are looking at the beneficial use of land that is south of the Crown dam,” he said.
The $56.4M project which is expected to conclude within 24 months will benefit thousands along the coast, while allowing the country to have better water management in dealing with the effects of climate change.
Wordsworth while giving an overview and status of the project said that since the construction of the EDWC, the facility has suffered breaches in the past, pointing out that in 2005, ten percent of the north eastern section of the embankment suffered overtopping.
However, Wordsworth indicated that there have been improvements with the re-opening of internal waterways within the conservancy along with the implementation of the Kofi sluice which is currently ongoing.
Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud addressees the gathering during the commencement of work ceremony for the EDWC northern relief channel at Hope/Dochfour
“Over the years, we have explored various options of creating an additional outlet for the East Demerara Water Conservancy to manage accumulation especially along the east and north section of the conservancy catchments,” he said.
According to the NDIA, CEO technical studies were done on additional outlets at Nabaclis, Hope/Dochfour and Belmont in the past and based on the studies a decision was taken to build the EDWC outlet.
As part of the project, 14 long reach excavators were procured by Government to successfully carry out works.
He added that the equipment coupled with the operational cost would save Government at least 60 percent of the cost that it would have spent if the Ministry had contracted the works.
During the process of the design, a technical oversight committee was established by the NDIA, tasked with reviewing reports submitted by the consultant.
Meanwhile, CEMCO’s lead consultant, Raymond Latchmansingh while delivering the project analysis, made reference to the challenges presented by the topography, logistics and access with regards to the completion of the structure.
He pointed out that hydrological equipment had to also be imported but noted that with the substantial work that has to be done, the area has a 1000-year return period.
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