GOVERNMENT is taking advantage of the dry weather to ensure drainage and irrigation is intact for the weather change-over which meteorologists predicted will be in December.The Ministry of Public Infrastructure National Task Force Commission (NTFC) announced that works had already started to restore proper drainage so that accumulated water from future rainfalls in streets and compounds along the coastal plains could be channelled effectively through the main canals and rivers.
The current priority project could reduce the risk of a major natural disaster which occasionally affects coast-landers and have even resulted in deaths and the spread of water-borne diseases, especially through mosquitoes which find rapid breeding grounds in stagnant waters.
Project Restore Guyana, the main assignment for the NTFC, the newly formed umbrella body for the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) and National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) is already executing major works to ensure a secure and healthy environment.
On Friday, the commission instituted for the Cabinet -mandated Project Restore Guyana (PRG), briefed the press on some of the works done since its formation to investigate and make recommendations to government in its task of restoring the wrecked segments of the country’s physical infrastructure.
Alex Graham head of the commission’s Public Consultation Stakeholder Committee told the Guyana Chronicle on Friday that as one of its current primary projects it has begun restoration of critical drainage and irrigation infrastructure along the coast and has supported efforts of city authorities within M&CC and NDIA.
NDIA head Freddie Flatts who is also Chairman of the drainage and irrigation committee within the taskforce, outlined a number of projects while the M&CC presented what they were doing in the city – creating green spaces and improving parking development.
Graham had earlier issued a statement which explained that at a second general meeting on Wednesday reports were presented by stakeholders from the six committees constituting the NTFC, updating it on priority projects and activities in areas mandated as key by Cabinet.
Those areas are: National Drainage and Irrigation; Traffic Management; Solid Waste Management and Derelict Vehicle Removal; Sustainable Countrywide Renewal; and Welfare Management of the Homeless, Mentally Challenged and Addicted; and from the recently-formed Public and Stakeholders Consultation Committee created to facilitate citizens, informed participation and sustained involvement through countrywide consultations.
According to the statement, committee conveners and other representatives presented several priority projects from the 10 administrative regions and six municipalities expected to be completed during phase one which ends before Guyana’s 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations early next year.
NTFC secretariat headed by Chairman Major General Joseph Singh (Rtd.) recently visited and consulted with regional and municipal officials from the ten regions and six municipalities, representatives from private sector and civil society organisations and individuals, on the implementation process for Project Restore Guyana.
The regions and municipalities were tasked with implementing “on the ground activities and projects” to be completed within the pre-Independence deadline.
They were also asked to submit requests for additional resources through the relevant committees within the NTFC for endorsement before formal submission by the minister at Cabinet.
The commission has already begun preparing the preliminary report summarising the projects presented.