AGRICULTURE Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy says his Ministry is playing a “more direct role” and is working with the contractor to ensure the completion of the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) Northern Relief Channel-the Hope Canal.He recently made this disclosure during a recent interview with this newspaper.

The Hope Canal missed its June 30 deadline for completion and was given a new deadline of September-an extension of seven weeks.
Ramsammy added that work on the four components of the project has been advanced significantly.
The four components are the more than 10-kilometre channel, the head regulator, the eight-gate sluice at the canal’s Atlantic end, and the EDWC Northern Relief Channel Public Road Bridge. The latter was completed and commissioned in February.
Ramsammy said that the head regulator has been completed and minor works have been completed on the more than 10-kilometre channel.
“Work on the outer sluice (the eight-gate sluice) was slow, but is expected to accelerate because arrangements are in place with the contractor, as a result of which the Ministry will be playing a more direct role. We are working with the contractor to complete the sluice,” he said.
Additionally, the actual testing of the functionality of the channel will have to await the availability of an adequate fill volume of the channel.
Indications were that the US $15M Hope Canal project, which is expected to be the answer to the flooding experienced in the Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary (MMA) areas during rainy periods, would be operational as the rainy season sets in.
Residents in the MMA area over the years have lost crops and livestock in floods during rainy periods. As seen in the past, when the Maduni sluice has to be opened to drain the East Demerara Water Conservancy, residents in the MMA area have to battle a rise in the Mahaica Creek – making the completion of the Hope Canal something that is much needed.
Construction on the project began in February 2011 with an estimated 18 months for completion. The deadline for the project was initially set for June 2013, but was subsequently extended to the end of August, and then once again extended to December 31, 2013, then to June 30, 2014. (Vanessa Narine)