THE construction of a new pump station at Mora Point on the right bank of the Mahaicony River is expected to begin by this month end.

The project by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) of the Ministry of Agriculture is to be done at a cost of $255M. The contractor will be Roopan Ramotar Investments, who will be expected to construct the pump station and install the two pumps during the course of 2019.

Once completed, the Mora Point pumps will deliver water from the Mahaicony River into irrigation channels for large rice-producing areas within the Mahaicony-Abary Rice Development Scheme (MARDS).

Some 2500 acres of rice cultivation and more will benefit from guaranteed irrigation, even during drought like conditions. An official from the NDIA said that the operations of the pump will make farmers feel secure about investing in their crops and make the area much more productive than it currently is. The new pump station at Mora Point will replace the old pump station and the two old pumps previously installed by colonial government over 100 years ago.

The century-old pumps, one of which was said to be still working, will be “spruced up” and kept at their current location as historical artifacts and their accommodation could become a drainage and irrigation (D&I) heritage site.