— over 114,000 households to benefit from better drainage, irrigation

THE construction of three critical pumps along the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) at Lusignan, Buxton/Vigilance and Hope/Enmore are expected to be completed by mid-March, said officials of the Agricultural Sector Development Unit (ASDU).

“Works on the three pump stations are more than 90 per cent completed at all three locations and it is expected to be completed before the actual project completion deadline,” project coordinator, Dhaneshwar James said during an interview with Guyana Chronicle.
The project is being funded by a line of credit from the World Bank at a cost of $2,378,000,000.

Construction of the pump stations is part of the Government’s Flood Risk Management Project which is expected to end by January 2019.
According to the officials, the remaining work on the pump stations includes landscaping, fencing and construction of access roads to the respective sites.
The project will also see the rehabilitation of a portion of the North Eastern section of the East Demerara Water Conservancy Dam, James said.

In addition to the three state-of-the-art pump stations at Lusignan, Buxton/Vigilance and Hope/Enmore, the ASDU will rehabilitate approximately four km of the dam from the Hope intake structure to the Enmore intake structure.

The pump stations, he said, once completed will have the drainage capacity of three m/s³ while the pump station being constructed at Buxton will have the drainage capacity of 2 m/s³.

“Additionally, we commenced rehabilitation works to the dam in February 2017 and have completed 31 per cent of that aspect of the project,” said James.
Once completed, the pump stations are expected to bring much needed flood relief and improved drainage to farmers and residents along the East Coast of Demerara. James said approximately 114,000 households along the East Coast of Demerara are expected to benefit from better drainage and irrigation.