The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) has urged the suspension of the Hope/Dochfour Canal project, saying it is short-sighted and not the best flood solution.
According to a release from the GHRA, expectations that the government had heeded technical advice to the effect that construction of the high-level dam from the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) to the seawall area at Hope/Douchfour were dashed when initial work commenced last week.
The GHRA questioned why the government persists with the project, which it noted, “presents formidable technical problems, is immensely expensive and is not considered the best solution” to the flooding woes associated with the environs of the project. The GHRA is calling on the authorities to suspend the project until a flood mitigation strategy has been developed within the framework of a national environmental consultation; the technical feasibility and social benefit of the project is established as a best option to pursue; and a financial and social accountability mechanism is in place to ensure transparency in implementation of whatever scheme is adopted.
According to the GHRA, the argument that farmers in the Mahaica/Mahaicony areas will derive relief from the proposed canal is “not necessarily true, nor adequate justification for not looking at the more obvious technical solutions (most of which involve the western, not the eastern end of the conservancy).”
It also stated that the basic lesson emerging from the Great Flood of 2005 is that rising sea levels and global warming that pose daunting threats to the future of the coastlands called for a comprehensive review of the major coastal drainage systems. The release stated that the World Bank made financing available for precisely such a wide-ranging study, and the organisation noted that the review would have provided insights into the feasibility, the scope and scale as well as the cost and time-table of creating a viable environment for human habitation on the East Coast. Alternatively, the release noted that the study would have encouraged the conclusion that the East Coast of Demerara has no long-term viability and that migration inland is the only feasible future.
The GHRA stated that “the recklessness” in rushing into the project is not only dubious for the reason mentioned but it also postpones, in the short term, a vital but politically inconvenient debate about climate change in Guyana, noting that the government’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) has eclipsed all other environmental debates.
Now that the Guyana REDD+ Investment fund (GRIF) has been established, the GHRA stated that an important priority claim on the fund is a major national consultation on the future of coastal Guyana, supported by the technical studies which would allow people at all levels to make informed decisions. The release stated that consultation of this nature should be genuinely national rather than partisan since by the nature of the issue there are no priority “stakeholders”— the future of everyone in Guyana is at stake.
Work on the Northern Relief channel of the East Demerara Water Conservancy commenced recently and the project, which costs some $3.6 billion, is expected to be completed in a 24–month timeframe. The 10.3 km long by 30 m bed width canal is being built after several months of discussions and planning with the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority spearheading the project.
The project has attracted debate from experts, but the authorities have stated extensive technical studies have been undertaken prior to the project getting underway.
