Home Top Stories M&CC must implement stricter monitoring of D&I structures – Govt
…as malfunctioning koker door leads to flooding of GT communities
Government has called on the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) to enforce better management practices of drainage and irrigation structures under their control in the city after over 250 households and businesses in Charlestown and Work-en-Rust were affected by flooding on Sunday. 
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha on Sunday evening said that on Sunday morning the National Drainage & Irrigation Authority (NDIA) received reports from City Engineer Colvern Venture that there was an issue with closing the gate at the Princes Street, Georgetown sluice. It was reported that sometime between 21:00h and 04:00h on Sunday morning the sluice operator was supposed to close the sluice gate but this did not happen. As a result, the Agriculture Minister said that the tide began to rise which resulted in an intrusion of water through the sluice gate, ultimately resulting in the flooding of several nearby communities. “Thereafter, it was reported that several unsuccessful attempts to close the gate were made by the sluice operator and engineers from the Georgetown M&CC. After speaking with the NDIA Board Chairman, I instructed that the NDIA lend support to the City Council to monitor this structure. So during the next scheduled closure of the sluice door, our engineer was on-site to monitor and give assistance to M&CC personnel. The door was closed and they were able to use the Princes Street pump to start draining water from these areas, which ultimately resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of floodwater in these communities,” Mustapha said in a statement on Sunday evening.
Mustapha added that the operation of the city’s D&I structures that drain water into the Demerara River is the primary responsibility of the City Council. He also said that, at the time, there appeared to be a lack of effective management at the sluice in question which resulted in flooding of the neighbouring communities.
He said that it was unacceptable that persons were subject to this amount of discomfort on a national holiday and called on the M&CC to enforce stricter penalties on persons who are found to be negligent in their responsibility of opening and closing city sluices in a timely manner.
A statement issued by the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) noted that, in the Charlestown area, the roads were inundated with about 8 inches of water while as much as 12 inches of water was on the Werk-en-Rust roadway. The CDC is said to be assessing the damages to the households and businesses affected.