“Disappointing” – Agri Minister on state of drainage maintained by M&CC

…as NDIA to soon award cleaning contracts to West Ruimveldt residents

Drainage problems and keeping waterways clear of debris were the major issues raised on Monday when Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha conducted a walkabout in West Ruimveldt, Georgetown, following heavy downpours.
Speaking with residents, Mustapha said the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) will soon be awarding contracts to persons in the various communities to do internal cleaning.
“The NDIA will be awarding these works to the residents to do the internal cleaning, the manual cleaning and they will also execute maintenance work over the next few months, so that we can keep it in a way whenever there’s heavy rainfall, the water at least could reach at the pump and the sluices so that we can drain the area.”
The Minister further added that already, several areas were earmarked within the community to do drainage work, which is set to commence within the next two weeks.
“We are looking at the drainage system within the area, the drainage is very deplorable. We have earmarked some of the drainage work that we’ll be doing immediately, within another two weeks from now, we’ll see work commence here. We’ll also engage the residents to do the manual cleaning and where there [is] need for mechanical cleaning we will have machine come in to do these works,” the Minister shared.
Meanwhile, Mustapha also expressed disappointment after seeing the condition of drains which were supposed to be maintained by the Georgetown City Council.
“What I found is very disappointing because it seems that the city council have not been doing any work whatsoever in these areas. The interlocking drains and the small drains that they had to do work on, those drains have been neglected for a number of years and that is why when you look at the sluices and the pumps, we are not getting the water coming out from these areas to go to the sluices and pumps, because the drains are clogged and blocked,” the Minister remarked.
He highlighted that the area is highly vulnerable to flooding and as a result, the Ministry will be continuously engaging residents to maintain the drainage system, for which they will be renumerated.

“These areas are very vulnerable [to] flooding and what I promise to do… we’ll continue, not only now, this will be a continuous process. From the NDIA level/Ministry of Agriculture we will be looking to do the entire drainage system to clear it, to have it in a way that water can run off the land and run from the drain, easily to the pumps,” the Minister explained.
A resident from the area said that she has been residing in the community for some 31 years and drainage has always been a major issue that needed to be addressed.
“Living in the area the drainage system has been very bad, not only that our community centre have been neglected for quite a long time. It’s a pleasure, the people in the community…are very proud. They’re glad that the Minister came into the area to take a look at the drainage and everything else. I’m very pleased and I’m glad that that happened and I…will be looking forward to seeing Minister within this area,” the resident said.
Additionally, Councillor for the East and West Ruimveldt and Layne Avenue constituency, Trichria Richards shared that she is proud of the Government’s swift interventions to provide relief to residents.
“What I like…is the quick intervention where things are happening. You can talk to the Minister and immediately he’s here. He’s here…so that we can do a complete assessment of the drainage system in this constituency so I’m really happy about that and the changes that we’re seeing,” Richards remarked.
Over the past few weeks, Minister Mustapha has visited several communities across the country to find out about problems affecting residents and provide solutions to those problems. During his visit on Monday, he noted that he will also be encouraging his colleagues Public Works Minister Juan Edghill, and Local Government Minister Nigel Dharamlall to visit the community and make the necessary interventions where needed.