FARMERS of Yakusari, Black Bush Polder and neighbouring villages in the Central Corentyne district will, soon, benefit from a $1billion two-door sluice and canal project.

The massive undertaking is currently underway, at Bengal Farm, another part of Corentyne, Berbice, and is being executed by Roopan Ramotar Investments and will include the erection of a $400M sluice.
The National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) will undertake the excavation of a five- mile long canal and an outfall, along with the installation of two drainage pumps at a further cost of $600M.
On Thursday, Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Alli Baksh; Member of Parliament (MP) Faizal Jafarally; Head of NDIA Lionel Wordsworth and resident engineering consultant Roberto Kocha, took the media on a tour of the sluice site, which is located some two miles in the Bengal Farm backdam.
After a lengthy inspection of the works, Minister Baksh said he is pleased with the progress being made and remains optimistic that the job will be completed by the end of the 2014 first quarter.

Farming generally
“This project will not only benefit rice cultivation but farming, generally. It will be of tremendous help and we hope that residents and farmers would acknowledge this costly venture that is seen as a necessity at the level of the Ministry of Agriculture” he asserted.
MP Jaffarally, who visits the location regularly, also expressed satisfaction with the pace at which the contractor is operating and the quality of work being done.
He said: “As you know, Yakusari is in a basin and farmers there have been complaining about flooding. 400 acres of rice lands and a further 15,000 acres of cash crops lands will now be saved from inundation after heavy rains.”
The work, which began this year after a series of consultations among the Ministry of Agriculture, NDIA and farmers, is seen as a much needed boost for the agricultural sector.
Agriculture contributes heavily to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this country and it is very important that emphasis be placed on areas where farmers remain committed, Jaffarally statd.
It was explained that, when the drainage pumps are installed, they will aid the outfall by desilting one canal with water pressure from another canal during the dry season and that will reduce the cost of doing excavation.