THE Government of Guyana and the World Bank are presently executing the US$11.89M Flood Risk Management Project (FRMP) under the Agriculture Sector Development Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture.Agriculture Minister Noel Holder, accompanied by Agriculture Permanent Secretary Mr. George Jervis and FRMP’s Project Coordinator Mr. Dhaneshwar James, recently met with stakeholders of the Project Coordination Committee to highlight the way forward for the project with respect to strategies to be put in place to address and improve the flood-defence system to cope with extreme rainfall in Guyana.

The project will be implemented to reduce the risk of flooding in low-lying areas of the East Demerara region, and will be executed over a four-and-a-half-year period.
The Flood Risk Management Project (FRMP) stemmed from pre-feasibility studies done under the Conservancy Adaptation project. Three new pump stations will be constructed in the Buxton/Friendship, Lusignan and Hope/Enmore areas on the East Coast of Demerara, and sections of the East Demerara Water Conservancy dams will be rehabilitated.

The Government of Guyana has been working in conjunction with the World Bank, international organisations and other donor agencies to further develop a comprehensive flood risk reduction strategy in the aftermath of the 2005 flood.

The Minister said The East Demerara region is highly vulnerable to the vast effects of climate change, and the project is expected to run for four and a half years. The objective of the project is mainly to reduce the risk of flooding in low-lying areas of the East Demerara region, he said.
Meanwhile, Jervis mentioned that the Cunha Canal Rehabilitation Project (CCRP), which is similar to the FRMP project, was approved by the World Bank and the GRIF Secretariat, and will be ready for implementation shortly.

The East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) system has been given priority so as to strengthen its system through the Flood Risk Management Project, which will see more than 300,000 citizens in flood-prone regions of the East Demerara benefiting tremendously from reduced flooding and climate risk. This project will be funded from more than US $11 million coming from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group.

As the Flood Risk Management Project rolls on, it seeks to upgrade the critical sections of the East Demerara Water Conservancy dams and canals; significantly improve the drainage capacity in priority areas along the East Coast of Demerara; and increase the institutional capacity by implementation of dam-safety measures and practices, including the installation of instruments to monitor the hydrometeorological data. The project also caters for acquisition of heavy equipment to facilitate the upgrading and increased pumping capacity of the critical drainage areas. (GINA)