– Zeelugt, Cornelia Ida, Hague among areas to benefit  
THE residents of Hague and Corenelia Ida, who were originally intended to receive water supply from the Fellowship Water Treatment Plant, with support from the Anna Catherina borehole, will now receive a new borehole from Central Government at an estimated cost of G$60 million.

It is estimated that this project will benefit approximately 5000 people primarily in the Cornelia Ida and Hague communities, including the traditional farming community of “Hague Back”.

The designs for the borehole have to date been completed and will be tendered concurrently with borehole projects for Lima (Essequibo) and Amelia’s Ward (Linden). These projects are expected to commence shortly.

The Cornelia Ida borehole, which is part of the borehole rationalisation programme and was conceptualised as part of GWI’s turnaround plan, will be supported by the installation of a transmission main to facilitate distribution to the surrounding networks and also the upgrade of service connections to reduce the level of leakage, which will be addressed as well by GWI’s routine maintenance programme.

As a result of the need to engage in systematic replacement, retrofitting and expansion, several production sources were identified and more than 10 boreholes are planned for construction within the next year at a cost of over G$400M, which will eventually benefit more than 50,000 residents throughout the coast.

In Zeelugt, the water supply has been affected by the failure of the Tuschen borehole, which failed in November 2008. Since this time, GWI has been working assiduously to restore a stable supply. Some relief was achieved when the new Vergenoegen borehole was commissioned in May.

GWI is now able to use two boreholes to service the approximately 15,000 residents between Boerasirie and Barnwell. The entity is also providing a trucked service to the residents of the affected communities.

GWI is also working to ensure that the distribution network is rehabilitated. This is considered a priority at the moment as the network, which was installed some time ago under a “self-help project”, has proven faulty, as projects executed under these arrangements are often severely lacking in compliance to technical specifications. 

GWI has put in place arrangements to have the network thoroughly analysed. This process is labour-intensive as it involves systematic checks of all valves and other network appurtenances.

Nevertheless, this activity is expected to be completed by 2009-9-21 and will be concurrently supported by the replacement of any derelict network components.

These works within the Zeelugt area are within the broader context of the water sector consolidation project, which will provide treated water to approximately 24,000 residents between Boeraserie and St. Lawrence.

The centrepiece of this investment would be the Vergenoegen Water Treatment Plant, which will be supported by the installation of transmission mains and service connection upgrades.

All of these works are currently on-going at a cost in excess of G$600M.