WORK is progressing on the construction of the superstructure for a high-capacity irrigation pump at Mora Point, Mahaicony.

National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Engineer in Region Five, Mr. Bhagwandas Seeraj, disclosed earlier this week that the construction of accommodation for the pump with an overall cost of $255M is about 60 per cent complete.

The base has been completed and the walls are currently being erected. The pump itself is currently being manufactured in India and should be completed and brought into the country by October.

Once this pump arrives, he said, its installation should be completed for commissioning by year end. The contractor, Roopan Ramotar Investments, was awarded the contract in January.

Once completed, the Mora Point pump with a capacity of eighty cusecs will deliver water from the Mahaicony River into several 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 still be 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.

Funding for the new pump was acquired through a loan under an Indian Line of Credit.