Govt sets aside $2.7B to construct pump stations countrywide

In an effort to further alleviate flooding countrywide, the Agriculture Ministry has issued an invitation for bids in excess of $2.7 billion for the construction of several pump stations across the country.

These areas include Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara, at a tune of $918,231,387; Pouderoyen Area, West Bank Demerara at a cost of $945,179,772 and at Jimbo, Grove on the East Bank Demerara for $865,182,752.
Additionally, the construction of a sluice and pump station will also be erected at Belle Vue, WBD. The cost for this project was not released.
Nevertheless, interested and eligible bidders may inspect the bidding documents and obtain further information from the procurement unit of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) during normal working hours.
The tender document may be purchased for a non-refundable fee of $3000 each and must be deposited in the tender box at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) no later than 09:00h on Thursday, June 1, 2023.
Speaking with Guyana Times on Monday, subject Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha shared that these new stations are being constructed to ensure the drainage systems across the country are more effective.

“We’ll build one at Belle Vue, Meten-Meer-Zorg [and] then we’re doing one at Letter Kenny on the Corentyne. What we have done is we are looking at the area now to put in these DNI infrastructures as the President would have said, that we are creating these infrastructures so that we can have more lands under cultivation and at the same time be more effective in our drainage system. Only last Friday the President commissioned a mobile pump in New Amsterdam and we will place another one in New Amsterdam, so these are pumps that we are building and also those mobile pumps that we are placing at different points in the country to alleviate flooding and make the drainage system more effective,” Mustapha explained.
The Minister pointed out that the Government has also placed a mobile pump in Crabwood Creek and is actively looking to have them placed in other vulnerable areas.
According to Mustapha, “Since we took Government in August of 2020, a number of pump stations were built and new pumps were placed at different places and a number of sluices also were rehabilitated across the country. So these are works that we are doing in an effort to bring relief to have more effective drainage.”
The Minister further added that given that the country is facing more heavy rainfall than before, the Government has to cater to all possibilities of climate change.
Early last month, the Ministry inked a $1.3 billion contract for the rehabilitation of drainage catchment areas on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD), particularly at Liliendaal and Ogle.
The project, which falls under the World Bank’s US$26 million financing to support the ongoing Guyana Flood Risk Management Project, will improve the drainage in the coastal areas in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), reducing their vulnerability to flooding.
The Minister shared that these catchment areas will benefit the entire eastern part of Region Four.
“This project…will help the entire…eastern part of Region Four and it will contribute to the easing of flooding in these areas,” Mustapha remarked.
He also made reference to the 2021 floods which affected every region in the country, noting that since that national disaster, the Government has made significant investments to improve drainage nationwide.
Since 2020 the Government has been making significant interventions to bring relief to citizens who have been affected by floods. These include donations of food hampers, sanitisation materials, cash grants as well as upgrades to infrastructures to remedy the situation.