Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy says he hopes to commission the $3.6 billion Hope Canal by the end of April and expressed certainty that the new addition to Guyana’s water management infrastructure will be operationalized by or before June.
Work on the canal commenced in February 2011. Contractors however, due to myriad setbacks, were unable to complete the project within the stipulated 18-month contractual time-frame and so several extensions were granted.
Eventually, December 31, 2013 was said to be the revised deadline although
observers said this was unlikely.
Last Friday, Ramsammy once again gave assurances that the project would be operational by June 2014. “The doors are being hanged right now on the head regulator so that is the second component that will be completed,” the minister shared.
So far, only the bridge, constructed by DIPCON Engineering Services Ltd. at a cost of $350 million, has been completed – the contractors were able to wrap up this component of the project in February.
In all, the project has four components – the bridge, a high-level discharge sluice into the Atlantic Ocean, the head regulator and the channel which will connect the outfall site to the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC). Ramsammy says that that head regulator is now more than 96% completed while the canal itself is also more than 96% complete. He said that while dam reshaping work is ongoing in relation to the canal, this component of the project cannot be completed until the head regulator is finished.
Despite the volume of remaining work and the relatively short period of time left before the allotted time runs out, the Minister, again, seems quite optimistic that the project will be completed on time “I’m saying June. We probably will finish before then but remember the operationalization will depend on the need to move water. The way it’s constructed you will have to get a certain amount of water in the canal.”
The Minister added that “the canal is built to discharge water from the conservancy. If there is no need to discharge there is no need to use the canal. Especially since they don’t know how long the dry season will last.”
The Hope Canal was conceptualized after the 2005 flood. The inability of the various outlets of the EDWC to get rid of accumulating water fast enough led to massive flooding. This new addition is expected to enable government to regulate the water in the EDWC more efficiently. A recent flood study said that the Hope Canal will be able to address challenges from extreme weather.
