It seems inconceivable that the Hope Canal Project could be completed in under three years

Dear Editor,

In an article of Feb 2 in SN, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud in response to questions raised by parliamentarian Mervyn Williams on the projected completion date of the Hope Canal Project stated that duration of the project was close to 18 months, with completion in 2012. He further stated that the estimated cost of the project is $3B with $614M spent in 2010 and a projected expenditure of $1.2B in 2011.

Project work started during the latter part of 2010 with the excavation of the canal in the swampy terrain between the Crown and Conservancy Dams. However, due to technical difficulties vaguely related to weather, excavation came to a sudden halt and the machines had to be redeployed to a more suitable location for canal excavation, while the intractable problem of finding, transporting and placing suitable material to construct the canal embankments through the swamps is resolved.

To date no bid has been put out for any of the three major structures for this project – Head Regulator, Outfall Sluice, Road Bridge. These, together with excavation of the canal and build-up of its embankments have to be completed before the project could be functional to reduce flooding in Region 4 through drainage relief capacity of the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC). It seems inconceivable therefore that this project could be completed in under three years given its complexity and estimated cost, which will far exceed the $3B now being thrown around when the bids are received. It should be noted that the Ministry of Agriculture/National Drainage and Irrigation Authority has been toying around with the Conservancy Adaptation Project for the past three years and despite assured promises of timely project execution to provide a blueprint for flood protection along coastal Guyana, the project is still in the doldrums because of costs and other seeming imponderables associated with its execution.

In a few months time Minister of Agriculture Persaud will be heading into the sunset and the evidence suggests that construction of all components of the Hope Canal Project will not be started during his tenure. It is reasonable to conclude that his successor will put the project on hold while a technical review for all work products developed under his watch is carefully scrutinized, and with so many affected individuals in the Hope/Dochfour community involuntarily relocated and millions of dollars wasted thus far on this ill-conceived project, it may be a while before the Hope Canal Project is revisited by the incoming administration.

Yours faithfully,
Charles Sohan