– in wake of heavy rainfall
THE Agriculture Ministry and its sub-agency, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), continue to make interventions throughout the country to ensure that all drainage networks remain functional. To this end, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud and Chief Executive Officer of the NDIA, Lionel Wordsworth yesterday inspected key pump stations along the East Coast of Demerara to check on their functionality as Guyana has been experiencing heavy downpours over the past few days.
Minister Persaud, while giving an update, said he is satisfied with the progress along the coast thus far, as the systems are working effectively. Inspections have also commenced in Regions Two, parts of Three, Five and Six.
The minister said a significant amount of rainfall along the coastal and inland areas was recorded and, as such, visits to these areas have been made to ascertain the efficiency of the pumps.
“Once you have timely opening of the gates, it certainly allows the water to move but in some areas we would have what is called flat flooding but we came to have another look at how the system is working and I think this is very commendable. But we certainly need to be on the alert,” the Agriculture Minister said.
He indicated that staff of the Agriculture Ministry, Regional officials and GuySuCo to some extent need to be constantly on the alert to ensure that there is swift removal of water from the land, since this type of weather pattern will continue for a while.
The NDIA only has responsibility for agricultural areas. Georgetown is the responsibility of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC), according to Minister Persaud.
He highlighted that from 2008 to date, Government has spent significant amounts of resources on the maintenance of drainage canals and construction of embankments countrywide and made a special appeal to the M&CC to play its part.
“Georgetown is the responsibility of the M&CC and I know citizens of Georgetown have been calling and asking what’s taking place and I would wish to appeal to the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown to get their act together and not to allow what we are seeing taking place,” he said.
He said there will be times when water would accumulate but noted that a prolonged period would not be accepted since this would cause some amount of distress.