-how over a billion dollars was saved

The 2016 rainy season has passed without any significant flooding incident of note. This is a marked departure from the annual ritual of several parts of Georgetown, particularly the key downtown business district, being inundated with flood waters, sometimes for days at a time.

A small assortment of news headlines reminds us of the grim story.
2013 headline – Georgetown begins to flood as heavy rainfall continues
2014 headline – Floods swamp Georgetown after record rains
2015 headline – Rains flood Guyana capital and threaten three more days of same

The images of women and schoolchildren wading through filthy, faeces infected flood waters to get to and from their homes are etched in our minds. The St George’s Cathedral, State House, the then Office of the President, ministerial buildings, thousands of homes, restaurants, stores and shops, schools and other places of business and worship were not spared. Flood waters invaded and wrought havoc, causing, in total, estimated hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to property, equipment, furniture, household and kitchen appliances, clothes, electronics, electrical wiring and installations, plumbing and more.

The annual inundation of water weakened and caused substantial damage to the foundations of many city properties requiring millions more to repair and strengthen. Persons were forced to build raised barriers around doorways to prevent flood waters from entering their homes and businesses. Those who could have afforded to do so, constructed raised walkways to allow them unhindered access to their homes and offices.

ECONOMIC EFFECTS
When the flood waters came business owners were forced to shut down their operations and engage their staff and additional hired help in clean-up activities. Days of business were lost, profits diminished. These had knock on effects on the local economy which were never specifically analysed, understood or defined. Cumulatively however one could say tens of millions of dollars being expended on cleaning detergents and agents, buckets, mops, sponges, labour alone is a modest estimate.

This does not include the man hours and profits lost, the business disrupted, the additional electricity and water used in the clean-up exercises among other economic considerations. Add to that the closure of schools, the banking sector disrupted, city transportation in gridlock, work at the wharves grinding to a halt, market operations hampered, virtually every aspect of life suffered.

HEALTH IMPACT
Then there were the health effects. Many persons particularly children suffered from diarrhea and similar communicable and water borne diseases caused by them being exposed to the unsanitary flood waters. Apart from these persons not being able to attend school and work during their period of illness, they required medication and treatment, causing a strain on the health sector. Medication had to be provided to them while doctors, nurses and other medical personnel had to dedicate time to patient care and recovery. There were increased visits to hospitals, clinics and medical outposts. Additional hospital beds had to be allocated to accommodate those with more serious illnesses. These too had economic impacts on the nation.

MISERY AND WRETCHEDNESS
When the flood waters rose garbage, filth and reptiles surfaced. Large anacondas harboured in trenches and gutters near to residences and preyed on pets and livestock. Georgetown was a true jungle city and the laws of the jungle seemed to have obtained with regard to maintenance of our city’s gutters, drains, alleyways, canals, outfall channels and other waterways. It was an annual ritual of misery, discomfort, suffering, sickness and wretchedness. Citizens were left to fend for themselves and while billions were squandered by the previous administration, no sincere and meaningful effort was made to bring relief to the citizens’ predicament.

MASSIVE CLEAN UP
In 2015 a massive clean-up campaign of Georgetown and its environs was initiated by the new Coalition Government through the Ministry of Public Infrastructure along with the Mayor and City Council and members of the private sector. Mountains and piles of long fermenting garbage were removed. Canals and outfall channels were cleaned and desilted. Condemned sluices were resuscitated, broken ones were fixed. Alleyways were cleared. Gutters were cleaned. Parapets were cleared and scrubbed.

GEORGETOWN RECLAIMED
Many citizens expressed surprise that some areas which were cleared were actually waterways and alleyways. So long had these critical aspects of Georgetown’s drainage and irrigation system been neglected that they had been covered in overgrown bush, in some instances complete with mature trees. This caused persons to either forget or not know that they were in fact alleyways and canals.

Parts of Georgetown which had been abandoned and lost were rediscovered and reclaimed. The monument to this rediscovery must be the now gleaming Independence Arch at the top of Brickdam which had been in a state of ruin and disrepair. Durban Park and Merriman’s Mall were redeveloped and now serve as civilized centres of recreation for thousands of families who gather to relax, play, jog and exercise and simply ‘cool out’.

The nation has breathed an almost audible collective sigh of relief as Georgetown began to take on this cleaner persona. No longer are drivers forced to ensure that their windows were up to avoid the stench all across the city. Georgetown, prior to 2015 had been dubbed by locals as the Garbage City, a vile variation of its once proud moniker of the Garden City.

This year, within a few short months of the clean-up campaign having kicked into high gear, ‘Georgetowners’ saw the benefit of the initiative. There was no major, longstanding flooding anywhere in the city. There were a few trouble spots which remained. These were mainly concentrated in Queenstown and South Ruimveldt which seem to be plagued with chronic problems requiring long term solutions.

Nevertheless the waters accumulated in these areas were at a much lower level than previously experienced and drained off within hours.
The total cumulative economic benefit may never fully be known, however what is beyond debate is that it is significant.

When one considers the profits not lost; business not disrupted; monies saved from not having to engage in extensive week long clean-up of lower flats and expended on cleaning agents; remedial construction work not having to be undertaken; appliances, furniture and other household items not needing to be repaired or replaced; no outbreak of diseases; medical man hours saved; medicines not having to be dispensed; relief supplies not having to be distributed; shelters not needing to be activated; state personnel and security services officers not needing to be activated and other savings it is not implausible that when all is tallied, Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson and his team, along with the M&CC team would have caused businesses, citizens and the government to save perhaps well in excess of a billion dollars.
And there certainly seems to be far fewer mosquitoes buzzing around in the evenings as well. Just another benefit of a cleaner city being slowly but certainly restored to its old sobriquet – the Garden City.