The PPP/C government has proposed a budget of over $5 billion to strengthen the sea and river defence infrastructure in regions Three, Five and Six, Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh announced.
In his budget presentation last Friday to the National Assembly, Singh said the money has been earmarked for construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of sea and river defences at Uitvlugt, Anna Catherina, Dantzig, Prospect, Content, Fair-field, Manila, Zealand, Cane Garden, and No. 63 Beach.
Singh announced that his government continues to take strenuous steps to protect the country’s vulnerable shoreline. The existing conventional hard-infrastructure solutions, he told the House, are expensive and are not adaptable to rising sea levels and climate change vulnerabilities. On this note, the Finance Minister said government intends to promote natural interventions in the form of groynes and restored mangrove forests from replanting and natural regeneration to complement the significant investment in hard-structures.
