President Irfaan Ali, yesterday commissioned the Sheet Anchor Water Treatment Plant, which will supply purified water to 4,182 households between Good Bananen Land, East Canje, and Number 35 Village, Corentyne, Berbice.
The plan for the water plant was one that was designed and initiated under President Ali while he was Minister of Housing and Water in 2013 to 2014. Ali said that it was unfortunate that the facility has only now come into full operation as he stressed that the financing and design were both in place for the project when he was minister. “It tells a story that we must all learn—that there are certain aspects of development that we must not use as a political tool or place on a political agenda,” he said.
Shaik Baksh, Chief Executive Officer of GWI, who gave a brief overview of the project at the commissioning, yesterday said that the plant was a part of the Infrastructure and Improvement Plan which commenced in 2013.
He explained the plan was to construct three treatment plants – at Sheet Anchor, Diamond, and Uitvlugt – and to reduce the water losses by improving the distribution network and looking at leakage management, and improving sanitation standards.
According to him, it took over two and a half years before construction commenced on the Sheet Anchor Plant due to poor project management by the previous government.
However, he said, that today there are three functioning treatment plants in the country as a direct result of the government’s efforts to provide safe and clean water. “It took a lot of work over the last year under this government to bring it fruition, to really bring it to the high operating standards,” he said.
In terms of water quality, Baksh said, that they are well above the world health standards since the iron content of the water is presently 0% MG, while the world health standard is 0.3% MG. Both the PH and E.coli are at 0% “so the water coming out here is very good and you can drink this water from the tap.”
He said, 91 kilometers of pipelines fall within the Sheet Anchor Plant, and that 121 pit latrines were converted to septic tanks.
