Business community urged to collaborate with GWI to effectively manage City sanitation system

THE Government of Guyana (GoG) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), collaborating on the Georgetown Sanitation Improvement Programme (GSIP) being executed by the Guyana Water Inc.(GWI), yesterday, held a seminar on the care and management of the Georgetown Sanitation System at the Regency Hotel in Hadfield Street, Georgetown.

The aim of the seminar was to foster a long-lasting partnership with the city business community for the effective management of the sanitation system.

The business community was urged to collaborate with the GWI to effectively manage the sanitation system.

Speakers included Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Water, Emil Mc Garrell, who called on the business community to utilise its corporate social responsibility programmes to assist in improving sanitation in the city.

Mc Garrell said it is essential that rehabilitation works be done to improve the sanitation system for economic advancement of the country, because sanitation needs to be addressed and recognised for its health implications; and it has long been noted that the sanitation system needs rehabilitation.

Mc Garrell said civil works are currently being done to accelerate the project to a satisfactory state, in order that the programme might deliver on its promises.

He noted that private contractors attached to the project are now in a position to repair roadways, which had been dug up due to rehab of the sanitation infrastructure.

He also spoke of the proper management of waste water, charging many businesses with culpability for discharging untreated waste water into drains and waterways.

Giving an overview of the GSIP, Programme Manager Orin Browne said the seminar was a key component of the GSIP, and was initiated through an agreement between the GoG and the IDB for improvement of the operational performance of the Georgetown Sewerage System.

He said the contract was signed on December 8, 2010, and is a continuation of the first phase of the rehabilitation of the sewer system, wherein, a huge sum of US Dollars had been expended to undertake rehabilitation works.

Browne also highlighted aspects of the system and its components as he spoke of the current road works and pipe-laying.

Sanitation Manager at GWI, Rensforde Joseph, remarking on care and management of the sewerage system, said GWI and the Ministry of Public Works are collaborating to ensure that road repairs are executed in accordance with the requirements of the contract and the high standards of quality expected.

He noted that the utility is executing full measures to ensure that the contractors (S. Jagmohan and Nabi Consortium) execute the works in compliance with the technical and environmental requirements of the contract, to ensure attainment of quality deliverables of the project.

Joseph added that, upon completion of the programme, expected in the third quarter of 2014, Georgetown residents can expect a significant reduction in sewage overflows and an overall improvement of sanitation and hygiene in the city.

(By Michel Outridge)