This season’s lashings of rain and the flooding that has followed have again exposed how dangerously vulnerable the capital and the coast are to catastrophic inundation as in 2005 when there was immeasurable loss to householders. It appears however that this government is courting disaster and is unwilling or unable to muster the resources and energy to enhance the country’s ability to withstand and recover quickly from flooding.
From the outset it should be made clear that where the capital is concerned its woes cannot be blamed solely on the city council. The present council has clearly outlived its usefulness but in all fairness it doesn’t have the wherewithal to wall the city from the deluge. The city can barely raise enough from taxpayers to carry on its day-to-day business much less finance the replacement of the critical pumps at the Liliendaal station or acquire new ones for other parts of Georgetown. This situation won’t change until local government reform gives the city government unqualified approval to raise its own revenue and a greater share of the tax collection.
Therefore, replacing critical drainage infrastructure in the capital is primarily a task for the government as it is even more clearly the case in other parts of the country. Given the fiscal stringencies that face the country and the likelihood that this situation will get worse considering the tidal wave of calamity in the financial markets which will soon lap at these shores in the form of reduced remittances, it behoves the government to spend prudently and to prioritise its expenditure. But has it done this?
After the shock of the 2005 Great Flood wore off the government had a pretty clear road map of what needed to be done to limit flooding from the supercharged weather systems that the country was facing from time to time. It has however dithered and lost valuable time – three whole years of it. On top of that it has spent profligately on hosting mega events like the world cup 2007 and Carifesta. Both of those events were undoubtedly important to who we are as West Indians and the aspiration to a single nation. But could that argument be placed ahead of expenditure to preserve the viability of the capital city and the adjacent coastal regions? Could US$50M-plus on the world cup – detailed accounting for which is still to be presented to the nation more than 18 months after – be more important than acquiring new pumps or opening up new outlets to the sea so that we are not at the mercy of gravity and tidal drainage? We don’t think so.
Essentially the argument hinges on sensible and good governance and whether this government is discharging its obligations to do its utmost to protect its citizens from flooding caused by heavy rain. This is essentially the question that will confront President Jagdeo and he will have a hard time presenting a winning case. None of the main tasks that have to be grappled with has been addressed since the 2005 Great Flood. Last month, the government made positive noises about a new outlet to the Atlantic Ocean from the East Demerara Water Conservancy at Good Hope and a cost of around US$5M was mooted. Trouble is that this canal is unlikely to be dug and finished anytime soon even though it should have been one of the urgent priorities of the government three years ago.
As the person who spearheaded the 2005 relief operation and one who intervenes when he feels it necessary in a broad range of portfolios, it was the responsibility of President Jagdeo to act with dispatch in mobilizing and prioritizing scarce resources. It didn’t happen. Now we are already preparing for what could be more costly expenditure for the 20/20 tournament in 2010.
Less than a year after his victory in the 2006 general elections we had editorialized in these columns on what President Jagdeo’s list of priority matters should be to stem the flood threat and to be remembered as a President who marshalled all of the country’s resources in a decisive battle against flooding. Very little has been achieved.
This is the list of essential works referred to at that point:
i) comprehensive drainage infrastructure in Mahaica and Mahaicony but not necessarily phases two and three of the MMA scheme;
ii) considered assessment of the dangers of the East Demerara Water Conservancy and if thought feasible the reconstruction of the vulnerable sections of the dam, excavation of the conservancy, opening up of new flow channels and new outlets to the Atlantic and the Demerara;
iii) revamping of the gravity oriented drainage of the city and installation of new pumps;
ii) routine dredging of silted up rivers.
The government must not be of the view that it will be able to link the country’s immediate weather problems with the larger climate change debate. It just won’t fly as was evident from the caution exuded at last week’s conference in Poznan, Poland. Above all, the international community will want to be presented with evidence that we ourselves are making industrious efforts to combat the problems we face. The international community is unlikely to be impressed that we sunk US$50M preparing for a one-week cricket extravaganza while neglecting to seriously address our known flooding problems. Indeed, in relation to items one and four on the list a number of countries including China and Venezuela and institutions like the IDB were approached for help. There have been no takers.
It is now up to President Jagdeo and his government to show that they recognize the seriousness of the flooding problem and to begin seriously investing to rectify it.
Aplegacy
Legacy
As we tread tentatively through this threatening rainy season it is becoming more and more evident that the government has to marshal an extraordinary response to the annual flood threat requiring a policy decision to allocate more resources and to raise the remaining financing from friendly countries and multilateral institutions.
This exigency has been addressed in several recent editorials and because of its seminal importance we believe some of the key points bear repeating.
Unfortunately, the government doesn’t seem to be persuaded that an extraordinary response is necessary and that immediate mobilization of financial resources is essential. At his press conference on Friday, the Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud regaled the media with the standard responses to the now annual risk that coastal regions face: $440M in emergency works have been done, 50,000 sand bags have been filled, free work was done for farmers in the Mahaica, Mahaicony area to raise embankments, 24-hour monitoring of the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC), deployment of excavators etc. Yet these measures are but a proverbial drop in the ocean and arguably could be deemed as ill-considered and wasteful expenditure if they fail to address the larger structural problems, become recurrent expenses and result in massive losses to householders and farmers.
And when the Minister was asked about the completion of the second and third phases of the MMA scheme to provide relief to long suffering riverain residents of Mahaica and Mahaicony he alluded to the cost of US$35M – though experts believe it will be far higher than this – and said that efforts were being made to gather the financing. The intensity of the response was the same in relation to the dredging of silted up rivers and estuaries; Venezuela was being waited upon and the cost would be around US$5M. Yet, taken together these two projects total US$40M. When one considers that the government expended upwards of US$54M on the hosting of six matches for the world cup one can properly question whether the government has its priorities right. We enjoyed the six days of cricket but there is hardly a Guyanese around who would not sacrifice the privilege of hosting in return for securing tens of thousands of riverain and coastal residents from flooding.
No one is expecting the government to lay out a budget to reverse global climate change and warming. It is however reasonable to expect that the government can construct a plan for between US$100-200M to address the most pressing flood related needs and to give citizens a better chance of avoiding this yearly danger. It is worth pointing out that in Mahaica and Mahaicony, some hardy farmers have suffered devastating floods repeatedly in the last two to three years. To add insult to injury, some who had been offered the prospect of relocation to the East Coast are in deep water again and that plan to move them has again been trotted out in the truest procrastination which has become a hallmark of this government.
The periods: December 2004 to March 2005 and December 2005 to February 2006 provided the clearest warnings yet to this government that business as usual was no longer possible. These two periods had of course been preceeded by the frightening harbingers of El Nino and La Nina both of which wrought their own special brand of havoc.
Of all the recent Presidents, President Jagdeo has had the most experience with the pernicious nature of the regular floods that have haunted the country going all the way back to his stint as Finance Minister when Mahaica, Mahaicony were inundated. The President has a golden opportunity in this his final term to set anti-flood measures on a more secure footing by treating this issue as a top priority. With less than a year of the five-year term finished he has enough time to plan and implement. His knowledge of, and interactions with the international financial institutions puts him in good stead to spearhead the effort to prepare a comprehensive plan for funding that takes into account the following:
i) comprehensive drainage infrastructure in Mahaica and Mahaicony but not necessarily phases two and three of the scheme;
iii) considered assessment of the dangers of the EDWC and if thought feasible the reconstruction of the vulnerable sections of the dam, excavation of the conservancy, opening up of new flow channels and new outlets to the Atlantic and the Demerara;
iv) revamping of the gravity oriented drainage of the city and installation of new pumps;
v) routine dredging of silted up rivers.
Such an effort is absolutely essential and will immeasurably secure the livelihoods and peace of mind of thousands.
