MINISTER of Agriculture, Noel Holder, on Thursday, commissioned two major agricultural infrastructure projects in Region 5 (Mahica/Berbice) and assured beneficiaries that the Government of Guyana will continue to place heavy emphasis on the development of regional agriculture and the boosting of village economies.

The beneficiaries were residents of West Bank and West Coast Berbice and the two projects are: a massive four-door drainage sluice at D’Edward Village, built at a cost of $445M and an extension of the Onverwagt Farm-to-Market Road (OFMR) done at a cost of $100M and was done by Contractor, Shereaz Bacchus.

Construction of the four-door sluice at D’Edward started in 2016 while works on the OFMR with an asphaltic concrete surface was done in the latter half of 2019. During the commissioning of the sluice, Minister Holder re-emphasised that the Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Agriculture remains committed to flood-risk management for the economic and social wellbeing of the Guyanese people and gives its assurance that it will continue to implement aggressive plans and civil works to undertake investments maintenance and future planning in drainage and irrigation.

He described the extension of the OFMR as another example of government’s commitment to agriculture and agricultural development not only in Region 5, but countrywide. The commissioning of the road was done near the Intermediate Regulator (IR3), about four miles inland on that roadway while the commissioning of the sluice was done at D’Edward, just west of the Berbice River Bridge.

The formal openings were done in the presence of Senior Officials of the MMA, including Chairman of the Board of Directors, Kelvin Saul; the General Manager, Curbette Victorine; and his senior staff, Chief Executive Officer of the NDIA, Mr. Frederick Flatts and his senior staff, staffers of Regional Administration of Region 5, including Regional Executive Officer, Ovid Morrison; Region 5 Member of Parliament Hon. Jennifer Wade, and representatives of other agricultural agencies including GUYSUCO; and representatives of the contractors who had built the projects and interested members of the public.

The attendees were welcomed by recently-appointed General Manager of the MMA/ADA, Mr. Curbette Victorine who said that the MMA was committed to the objectives of agricultural development for Region 5, conceptualised in 1962 and put into effect in 1982 with its establishment.

Speaker at the Sluice Commissioning, Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, Mr Frederick Flatts, disclosed that the sluice, in conjunction with other coastal sluices and the drainage pump at Trafalgar, also in West Coast Berbice, will provide drainage for an area of over 48,000 acres of agricultural and residential lands in West Berbice. He said:” The sluice has a drainage capacity of over 6,000 gallons of water per second, so when we talk about attempts to reduce/eliminate flooding in West Berbice, this is the real deal.”
.

Mr. Flatts had earlier disclosed that the OFMR will provide ease of access to an additional 40,000 acres of agriculture aback of Onverwagt, another step in making agriculture even better and more profitable in Region 5, he said. He said that he would gladly envisage a road of the same quality leading into the MMA conservancy some thirty miles inland.
Mr. Ovid Morrison said that the projects exemplified the caring nature of the government towards all of its people. He told the beneficiaries that they should appreciate the projects for what they were and should accordingly make the right decisions on who to vote for on March 2nd, 2020, so that the progress will continue. The sluice was designed by SRK Engineering at a cost of $13.9M. The work was supervised by E&A Consultants at a cost of 16.7M and construction by Courtney Benn Construction Company Limited at a cost of $414.7M.