AS part of its $21.4 billion supplementary budget, the Government of Guyana is requesting some $755 million to implement urgent drainage and irrigation interventions nationwide.

The requested funds are merely a component of government’s efforts to tackle the rainy season in a more proactive manner. Already, above normal rainfall has resulted in more than 5,000 households being affected across 46 communities.

The country’s previous rainy season already took a massive toll on the country and its people, resulting in unprecedented floods which saw waters surpassing 15 feet in some areas.

As the country prepares for a second bout of rain, President Dr. Irfaan Ali has moved swiftly and proactively to activate a ‘Cabinet Level Taskforce’ to respond to the myriad of issues often brought on by the rains, especially potential floods.

The taskforce is being led by Prime Minister, Brigadier (ret’d) Mark Phillips, who, along with his team, will work in tandem with all local authorities to ensure that all response and mitigative systems are in place and are functional.

The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) said, on Sunday, that the systems being put in place seek to ensure that all sluices, kokers, and drainage systems function at optimum capacity.

The taskforce would be responding simultaneously to all areas, based on the mandatory reports submitted by all administrative regions, every 12 hours. “Reports are to describe the communities affected, types of impacts and the measures being taken by response and technical entities,” the CDC had said.

Within the past two days, Regions One to Five have already reported accumulated rainfall measuring above two inches. Moreover, the weather forecast has predicted continuous rain and thunderstorms across the entire coastland and parts of Regions Seven, Eight and 10.

Even before the launch of the taskforce, the Ministry of Agriculture, headed by Zulfikar Mustapha had embarked on an aggressive plan to ensure that all drainage apparatuses in Georgetown and across the country were functioning at maximum capacity. Those efforts have led to the quick receding of accumulated waters in the City.

Mustapha, in an invited comment last Friday, had said that, notwithstanding some amount of resistance from the Mayor and City Council (M&CC), his ministry has moved ahead to add a secondary level of monitoring through the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA).

“When I went [to a sluice Thursday night] while the sluice was open, half of the door was in the water impeding the flow of the water. Last night, at Riverview, residents complained that either the pump or the sluice wasn’t working,” Minister Mustapha shared.

He said that the NDIA has been quick to ensure that issues are rectified immediately, and has also been vigilant in ensuring that all canals and drains are cleared.

“I have since assigned three engineers from the NDIA to monitor these pumps and sluices on a 24-hour basis to ensure they are operable. In some instances, the Town Council workers refuse entry to the compound of our engineers,” the Agriculture Minister noted.

With heavy rainfalls expected to last until February next year, the government has issued a call for all citizens to take necessary precautions against this natural occurrence.

The previous rainy season, which commenced earlier in May, resulted in more than two months of devastating floods, occurring in all regions, across 300 communities. This had affected some 52,000 households and destroyed thousands of acres of farmlands.

Even now, many are still trying to recover from the impact of the previous floods. Fortunately, the majority of those affected have benefitted from government’s $7.8 billion flood relief programme which saw persons receiving cash grants intended to aid in their recovery.

This time around, the CDC has already received complaints in relation to damaged crops and livestock, as well as animals in distress. The government has since promised to do everything possible to minimise the effects of this rainy season.