THE European Union (EU) Delegation in Guyana announced yesterday that it had extended and expanded the mission of a coastal engineering design expert to assess the overtopping of the sea defences along the Rupert Craig Highway and to make concrete recommendations to mitigate future occurrences.
The expert is from a Consultancy with Engineering, Environmental Science and Economics [COWI] and he is presently in the country, the EU said in a media release yesterday.
The European Union [EU] Delegation said that like the entire Guyanese population, it is gravely concerned over the recent record overtopping of the sea defences that resulted in flooding to parts of the coastland and various wards of the City of Georgetown.
As a result, as a matter of urgency, the EU had decided to extend and expand the mission of the COWI expert to include an assessment of the overtopping of the sea defences along the Rupert Craig Highway and to make concrete recommendations to the Ministry of Public Works to mitigate future occurrences.
The expert is expected to provide his final report and recommendations to the EU and the Ministry of Public Works by the end of June.
The EU has been providing to the Government of Guyana technical expertise in the sector of coastal and marine structures and construction
The coastal engineering expert recently assessed the quality and extent of the support provided by the EU in the recent reconstruction of sea defences at various sites along the coast (9th EDF with EUR 17 Million).
He will also be advising the Government of Guyana in further development of its Sea Defence Strategy, which the EU is preparing to support by contributing up to EUR 15M over the next three years.
The Head of Delegation of the EU in Guyana, Ambassador Robert, extended congratulations to Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn and his team who responded efficiently and ensured that the flooding was brought under control.
Ambassador Kopecký expressed hopes that the COWI consultant together with the technical team from the Ministry of Public Works will formulate an effective strategy to address the overtopping issue.