By Dillon Goring
RESIDENTS of the Diamond /Grove Community, East Bank Demerara, will benefit from the construction of a Stainless Steel Koker by next weekend (August 28 -30, 2020).

This was disclosed by Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, during a visit to the area on Sunday (August 23, 2020).
Minister Mustapha noted that the new structure will allow a lifespan of 40 years, whereas the usual greenheart gates which are used across the country would usually last six to eight years.

This new structure will prevent the kind of disasters that are usually experienced by timber sluice doors.
Minister Mustapha further explained that Government has plans to have all sluice doors countrywide converted into steel, in approximately 20 years.

On August 19, 2020, at approximately 17:30 hours, the sluice door at Market Street in the Diamond /Grove Community, on the East Bank Demerara, broke, thus causing flooding in the surrounding areas.

However, two temporary doors were installed to prevent further flooding in the area, as a result of high tide on August 20, 2020.
The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) led by its Director, Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig, had provided sanitising and other relief supplies to affected households and residents who were temporarily housed at the Diamond Secondary School, on the night of August 19, 2020.