$700M spent to cope with rainy season -Persaud

BY Staff
Published: December 4, 2008 in News

In anticipation of above average rainfall during the December-January period, the Ministry of Agriculture has spent approximately $700M improving drainage and irrigation across the country, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud has said.

Robert Persaud

And while, most of this money has been spent on improving the systems in traditional agricultural areas other non-agricultural areas will also benefit, he added.

Speaking at a press conference held yesterday morning in the boardroom of the Ministry of Agriculture, Persaud said that over $1.7 B has been spent nationally this year improving drainage and irrigation nationally but emphasized that a lot of work was done to adequately prepare for the rainy season, which is expected to be above average.

According to the Chief Hydromet Officer, Bhaleka Seulall, based on current atmospheric and oceanic conditions and recent trends, there is expected to be an increase in the average amount of rainfall during the months of December and January.

Minister Persaud said that there is about 50-60 per cent probability that rainfall in December and January will be above average. He also said that there is a 20 per cent chance of extreme rainfall, where there can be 4-5 inches of rainfall. According to the Minister, the country’s current irrigation system can only adequately hold 1.5-2 inches of rainfall per day and consequently it would be a challenge to be equipped for the expected rainfall.

The Minister also said that $100M has been spent on improving the East Demerara Water Conservancy and said that this should be a great boost in the preparation.

Meanwhile the Minister said that 76 pumps are operable some of which fall under the purview of GuySuCo. He also said that there are 147 sluices that are in operation and stated that 7 new sluices were currently under construction and that 11 have been rehabilitated as well.

Persaud also called for citizens to be responsible and said that they had an important role to play in ensuring that the country is adequately prepared for the rainy season. He urged members to be on the lookout for persons who would be tampering with various pieces of equipment and also to desist from dumping refuse into drains.

At the press conference, Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), Lionel Wordsworth also outlined the various projects which the Agricultural Ministry had undertaken during this year. Meanwhile Chairman of the Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary-Agricul-tural Development Authority (MMA-ADA),Rudolph Gajraj elaborated on the projects that have been concluded and those currently ongoing in the Mahaica, Mahai-cony, Abary region.

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14 Comments

SandHurst First says:

December 4, 2008 at 6:41 am

Lets hope ALLLLLLLLLLL of this money is spent in case there is a repeat of 2005 (and i pray there is never one) because somebody is always putting lil in their pockets……….What they should start looking at is the drains…………Some Guyanese really nasty…if you see plastic bags and food boxes in some trenches…..especially Sussex……..as soon as some of us leave this country and go to..lets say America………the get tidy i.e not littering the streets!!

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- Soldier says:
  
  December 4, 2008 at 8:32 am
  
  Food boxes and plastic bags dumped in drains are the main reasons for flooding..I think all the drains should have already been cleaned in the dry weather…so now as the rain comes most of the water will drain off..The M&CC and the D&I has a tendancy to wait until the rain comes and then get busy to clean so as people are flooded and are busy and in a state of confusion, they get to steal the money…700 M is a lot of money and still people are not getting relief..
social critic ! says:

December 4, 2008 at 8:45 am

…..” not littering the streets “,, or anyplace else ! ,, is indicative of a civilised mind !

not much is expected from a hog ,,,,,, but a grunt !……

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bgsbny says:

December 4, 2008 at 8:58 am

…….. ammm mawnin’ ,,, sniff sniff ,, ah smell rain ,, an plenty tuh ! suh ,, it looks like time to move my lair to up dare in highr grounze ! eh ! wats up doc ? dats a lot of cheese to spend ,, expend ,, each time de rains dat is a perpetual yoke come to bring de mosquitoes and ,, floods wit flu !

doan’t yuh tink is time fuh sum cerias — dis ia a raley big wurd — cantemplashun ,, abt wah y’all raley spendin’ expendin’ all dis moni evey time de rain come !,, tink abt it ,, bsides the wasting of funds to put “band - aid ” in place ,, all yuh doin is addin up to naught !……. ah tink my mother ,, wud call dah ,, “digging a hole fuh full ah hole” !!!!!!!!!

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- Mackydog says:
  
  December 4, 2008 at 8:20 pm
  
  bgsbny,
  whe yuh been all dis time, hiding from de guy wid de big gun? Welcome back.
  
  A doh think yuh understand GT well as yet, the govt HAVE to spend that kinda cheese fuh stop we from swimmin. If they don’t, then all like you, a wabbit, would have to mek yuh burrow in a tree top instead. see bugs, doh forget we below sea level, and we doh have de kinda cheese to build a wall aroung Guyana like de people overhay do wid Lake Ponchatrain in Louisanna. We gat fuh do wha we can do, and I sure de way we doing it yuh mudda woulda say “lil bit dutty build dam”.
Yusuf says:

December 4, 2008 at 9:23 am

Voodoo engineering will not solve the drainage problems in Guyana. Billions have already been spent and after the first rainfall flooding occurs thr’out Guyana.
The damage done to the conservancy is litterally irreversible. This Govt. in an attempt for the EDWC to hold more water raised the dam by 5 feet. The vegetation was removed before raising the dam. This caused the flooding in 2005 not global warming.The EDWC has a capacity problem and this cannot be addressed by raising the dam built on a pegasse foudation.
The Govt. needs experience hydraulic engineers to solve the problems not guess work engineers.

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- Light says:
  
  December 4, 2008 at 4:21 pm
  
  They don’t seem to care about ‘ experience hydraulic engineers ‘.
  
  Remember, there is VAT, IDB, CDB, IMF, OXFAM, PAHO/WHO, UN etc; etc.
  
  They are likely to flood them out and pay them out !
michael tannassee says:

December 4, 2008 at 11:31 am

…… the big pic ,, of flooding in relation to the “guiana shiled” — GUYANA suriname,, french guiana — is dictated by the Amazon ,, and it’s much too many ,, tributaries ,, and subtributaries many of which make and gives the name
” GUYANA ” land of,,,, well u know ,, our GUYANA ……

until they in Gy ,, is prepared to accept this for what it is ,, they will continue to be mired in psychological torture ,, from this perpetual perennial yoke ! whenever the rains come which is all the time bcos ,, of our geographic location ,, and the fact that we are part of the largest watershed on the planet — 2,722,000sq miles !

the rain forest ,,, that comprise the Amazon Basin ,, is ,, in our back yard ,, and bcos the coast of Gy ,, is like a shallow saucer at it’s coastal topograhy ,,, while the rest of it goes lower in to the saucer ! ,,, is the reason for the water logging ,, since the mouths of all the rivers in GY flowing to the Atalntic is silted up ,, thus impeding the quick “drain ” that is mandatory to avoid “flooding” ! this is compounded with the tides from the Atlantic ,, it’s difficult to deal with the flood from the rains ,, while the tide is high ,, hence the flooding ! ,,,,,,,,,

somehow ,, it seems to me that no one ,, absolutely no one ,, is concerned abt the Andes ,, that Gy is just north of the Equator ,, it’s part of the Amazon basin that hold the planet’s largest watershed ,, and that all the rivers in GY is subtributaries of the MIGHTY AMAZON !……….

to the MIn.of Agriculture ,, his drainage team ,, his hydromet personnel ,, and the tax payers,,, do urself all a favour ,, make a hasty run for “them thar hills” !………

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- freespeech says:
  
  December 4, 2008 at 8:28 pm
  
  run for it or spend US$7,000,000,000. next year and the year after, and it continues year after year.
William J says:

December 4, 2008 at 12:33 pm

If you do the job poorly this year, you get paid to do it again next year.

Lets just hope they do it well enough to get the water flowing out.

Tony Vieira aired a particularly interesting commentary (with photographic evidence to support) on the absolutely deplorable state of the kokers and their outfalls along the East Coast. The system is old but it works. the drains/trenches can be clear but its another story when the water gets to a malfunctioning koker..

Plus I can’t understand how Guyanese don’t make the connection between littering and flooding. its dumbfounding.

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Desi says:

December 4, 2008 at 5:03 pm

Spending big is only a stopgap measure to stave off the inevitable. The capital has to be moved. Just as Brazil did with Brasilia………we gotta go. We gotta go soon. Instead of building bridges and dams and kokers and useless sea-walls MOVE THE CITY.

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- freespeech says:
  
  December 4, 2008 at 8:30 pm
  
  these people think saving the forest will save the city, they will wake up one day and find themselves swimming for survival.
SandHurst First says:

December 4, 2008 at 7:48 pm

Hope??? the M&CC haven’t start cleaning yet!!

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Mackydog says:

December 4, 2008 at 8:10 pm

is a good thing the Minister use he brain and NOT put de money in de Lord Mayor hand otherwise we wont see one drain clean much more a trench or a koker rehabilitated.

Good work Mr. Minister, keep it up for all Guyana.

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