THE heavy rains over the last few days have given rise to concerns about the water level in the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC), which is usually controlled by opening the Maduni and Lama sluices in Region 5 (Demerara/Mahaica).

In the past, the Maduni and Lama sluices had to be opened to drain the EDWC when heavy rains caused overtopping, and residents in the Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary (MMA) area had to battle a rise in the Mahaica Creek. Over the years, residents in the MMA area have lost crops and cattle in floods that occurred during these periods.

Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture, Ali Baksh, has assured that the two sluices will not be opened.

“The Ministry is committed to not open the sluices and send water that will flood those areas,” he said. “Control mechanisms are in place to ensure this does [not] happen, and our officers are on the ground to ensure that no residential or agricultural lands are affected.”

Baksh added that current mechanisms in place will be bolstered by other efforts undertaken by the Ministry and stakeholder agencies.

INFRASTRUCTURAL SUPPORT
Responding to concerns of possible flooding in the MMA area, seen last in March 2011, the Ministry embarked on infrastructural projects to avert the opening of the two sluices.

One such project is the US$15M Hope Canal Project (HCP).
Indications are that the HCP, expected to be the answer to flooding experienced in the Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary (MMA) areas during rainy periods, would be operational as the rainy season sets in.
Construction of the project began in February 2011 with an estimated 18 months for completion, and the deadline for the project was initially set for June 2013. This deadline was subsequently extended to the end of August, and then further extended to December 31, 2013, then to June 30, 2014.

The EDWC Northern Relief Channel, the Hope Canal, which missed its June 30 deadline for completion, was given a new deadline in the latter part of July, when its completion was raised at the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee meeting on Natural Resources and the Environment. The Agriculture Minister, when he appeared before that committee, disclosed that the project would be completed in seven weeks’ time, by September. However, unforeseen challenges caused this deadline to be missed as well.

The Northern Relief Channel has four components: the more-than-10-kilometre channel; the head regulator; the eight-gate sluice at the canal’s Atlantic end, the outer sluice; and the EDWC Northern Relief Channel Public Road Bridge. The latter was completed and commissioned in February.
The most recent update indicated that the project will be completed by the end of November.

The Hope Canal was designed to work with the Cunha Canal, which is an approved Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) project.
The Cunha Canal Rehabilitation Project is also intended to improve relief drainage in the EDWC. It is envisaged to reduce Guyana’s vulnerability to the catastrophic flooding of its low-lying coastal areas.

Several farmers in the MMA area who spoke to the Guyana Chronicle noted that the water level in the Mahaica Creek is stable. They also expressed appreciation for the assurance of Minister Ali Baksh that the Maduni and Lama sluices will not be opened.

(Vanessa Narine)