Guyana’s drainage system should be the responsibility of a single ministry

Dear Editor,
Delivering the feature address at a recently-held Sea and River Defence Resilience Project Workshop at the Pegasus Hotel which was reported in the news media, David Patterson, Minister of Public Infrastructure, stated that “the Government does not have a full overview of Guyana’s drainage system and its oversight is spread over six different agencies”. Therefore, to resolve the complex drainage problems facing the country, particularly Georgetown, he sought help from the Dutch Government which sent a Disaster Risk Reduction Team (DRRT) to Guyana last year. Following a review of Georgetown’s drainage network, the Team made several recommendations for targeted interventions, including a follow-up visit which is expected to be made sometime this year to map the City’s drainage system and provide a framework for software modelling with the view of identifying flood-risk areas based on water flows.
In a few weeks, the major rainy season is expected to commence and Georgetown as well as low-lying coastal areas drainage systems are ill-prepared to accommodate any heavy rainfall without flooding. Further, the proposed drainage network mapping of Georgetown by the DRRT is unlikely to provide any meaningful data for drainage upgrade intervention before the end of 2017.
Drainage is an integrated system and all elements must be in good order and working in unison to function efficiently. A ‘blueprint’ to solve the drainage problems of Georgetown was given in the Sir William Halcrow Report which is lying in the City Engineer’s Office. Its recommendations with some modifications are still relevant today and what needs to be done to prevent flooding of the city are as follows: Firstly, the main channels and their subsidiaries leading to the sluices have to be cleared of constrictions, weeds, silt and graded to the sluices for optimum flow efficiency. The bottlenecks will be evident from visual inspections. Secondly, the sluices’ openings have to be streamlined to avoid any constriction of flow through them. Also, there should be no significant leakages through the gates when they are closed and the tides are up. Thirdly, the outfall channels from the sluices to the low water level mark of the Demerara River should be dredged/excavated to grade to allow for free uninterrupted discharges into the river. Lastly, the installation of pumps with adequate capacity at key sluices to get rid of backed-up flood water in the upstream channels when the tide is up and sluice gates are closed because the channels do not have sufficient holding capacity to prevent overtopping. A start should be made to upgrade drainage in the commercial and administration sections of the city where flooding is most disruptive and the damages incurred costly.
After nearly a year in office the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government has no comprehensive plan and has done little to prevent flooding of low-lying coastal areas as the country apparently awaits the recommendations of Minister Patterson’s committee under the Chairmanship of Major General (Retired) Joe Singh for interventions to improve coastal drainage. During previous Administrations, responsibility for drainage of coastal areas except Georgetown was with the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), a Division of the Ministry of Agriculture. Presently, drainage of coastal areas appears to spread over several ministries with the Prime Minister clearing outfall channels to ease flooding of villages and cultivations in Region Six, while Minister Patterson has been busy with the drainage of Georgetown and the East Bank of Demerara. The NDIA with some inputs from the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) has been handling the remaining coastal drainage areas, including the conservancies.
President Granger should be aware that the disjointed management and operation of the coastal drainage system is not only confusing but is responsible for the neglect and gross mismanagement of the drainage of coastal areas where flooding has been occurring with undue frequency. The management, operation and maintenance of Guyana’s coastal drainage system as well as irrigation of farmlands have to be under the responsibility of a single ministry if confusion, mismanagement and yearly flooding/droughts are to be avoided.

Yours truly,
Charles Sohan