Sea defense works amounting to $233 million are close to completion at Anna Catherina, and according to Minister within the Public Works Ministry, Deodat Indar, the sea defense structure would be critical in an area that was flooded out only a few months ago.
Work ongoing at Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo
Minister Indar on Wednesday toured sea defense works in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), where he was updated on progress by the respective contractors. In the case of Anna Catherina, work is at 98 per cent completion.
“We recently came off of a massive flood in the country. As you know, the sea defence is critical to ensuring that the severity of the floods that we had and future floods; the sea defense is critical to that. This particular area here, all these houses were actually flooded out. I actually visited this area to share out food hampers a few months ago when we had the flood,” he explained.
“This piece of sea defense, there was heavy overtopping here a few months earlier; we put this in the budget. This particular piece cost about $233 million. It’s about 300 metres of rip-rap,” the Minister said, pointing out that the rip-rap extends down to the shoreline.
The Minister also visited Zeelugt and Uitvlugt, where works are at 50 per cent and 20 per cent completion respectively. In total, these sea defense works amount to $620 million.
The Uitvlugt and Anna Catherina Sea defence contracts, which were awarded to Puran Brothers Disposal Incorporated, amount to $459 million. The contract at Zeelugt, which was awarded to Platinum Investments Incorporated, amounts to $159.8 million. According to Indar, it is important to nip sea defense breaches in the bud.
“If something starts small and you allow it to open and open and open, the longer you take to respond to that breach is the more expensive the solution will be. That is why you got to make sure you have rapid response when you have breach to any shoreline, and that is something we are cognisant of the fact, that is why we continue to monitor it as we go along,”
Between May and June this year, heavy rainfall resulted in widespread flooding across the country, affecting thousands of households. The devastation included submerged buildings and vehicles, with adverse effects on crops, livestock and health.
It has been noted that the rainfall experienced in May alone was recorded as the second highest level of rainfall across the country in the last 40 years. All 10 administrative regions in Guyana experienced varied levels of flooding, prompting Government to roll out immediate responses such as evacuation of those most at risk, and engaging in flood assistance.
Following extensive fieldwork, the President had announced in a national address last month that $7.8 billion in flood relief assistance would be provided to citizens and farmers who were affected in all 10 administration regions by the rains and flooding that beset Guyana earlier this year.
Approximately 52,000 households were affected in categories of homestead farmers, kitchen gardens, and households exclusive of farms/gardens. In these categories, the Head of State noted, farmers within the context of a homestead would receive $100,000 each, those with kitchen gardens would receive $50,000 each and households excluding homesteads and kitchen gardens would receive 50,000 each.
The President explained that the combined assistance to homestead farmers, kitchen gardens and households for these categories would be in excess of $3.5 billion. The roll out of these cash relief measures has since started. (G3)
