PUBLIC Works Minister Robeson Benn informed the National Assembly on Thursday that revetment works being executed in Kumaka, North West District, Region One will be completed within two months. He was at the time responding to a question posed by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) member Joseph Harmon, who reported that residents in that area have suffered serious losses as a result of the rising Aruka River.
Benn said that even though no such rise in the water level has been discerned, as far as the Ministry is concerned, works to correct the problem were moving apace. He noted that any rise may have been related to high spring tides.
He explained that revetment on the left bank of the Aruka River, just below the wharf at Kumaka, where a fisherman’s wharf was established as a result of bad planning years ago, is under constant threat from the river.
There has been great difficulty in acquiring substantial capital funds to undertake the works. However, in 2010, some $20M was acquired, and an additional $40M in 2011. By that time, a number of squatters had established businesses in that area, constructing buildings of considerable size despite the fact that the soil was of weak pegasse.
Benn said that the Works Ministry has been working closely with the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) in that area to have those squatters removed, but there was considerable delay in this regard, causing delay in the commencement of the project, even as erosion continued.
“I had to go personally there myself to speak with some business persons who were refusing to move, even though there were large cracks running between the buildings, which were preliminary to the embankment falling into the river…I had to fly men from Georgetown to remove those persons and demolish those structures. That was done, but it delayed the process by about seven months,” the minister explained.
Works subsequently started, but during the elections period, operators had to be demobilised from the area they were filling. However, because the appropriate piles had not being used in the river and on the land, the revetment slowly (fell) into the river.
“We decided that, at the beginning of the New Year, we would have to retreat the revetment further landward, up against the road; but in the meantime, the works are being delayed and/or interrupted, either by equipment failure or by persons trying to go back there to sell.
He maintained that the Works Ministry would not allow the return of those people onto the river bank, as it puts their businesses and lives at risk. Moreover, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development has been making arrangements for the relocation of those persons onto a marketing tarmac area.
“Our intention is to raise the road at a level so that there will be no flooding, but we would have to make sure that we don’t burden the area, which will increase the forces which will cause the area to fail, as the soil is naturally weak.
Over the past week, steel sheet piles have been sent to the area to complete both sides of the revetment to a depth of 40 feet. The king piles spacing have been reduced to 10 feet, while the anchor spacing is now at 20 or 25 feet, to have what is in effect an embankment that has revetment at both sides.
“The area is compromised because of the length of time that the project took to be mobilised and get active. We had to replace the machine we have out there, and we are converting it into what is properly a river defence project. We hope that within two months we will get this project fixed,” Benn assured.