President orders review of all D&I contracts, to impose penalties for breaches

…as over 36,000 households affected by floods

President Dr Irfaan Ali on Wednesday disclosed that Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall has been asked to review all contracts relating to drainage and irrigation (D&I) services including maintenance of pumps, sluices and kokers with the aim of imposing penalties against contractors who are in breach of their obligations.
“I have instructed the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, the Honourable Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC, MP, to immediately review all service and maintenance contracts within the sphere of the Government of Guyana and the entire State structure, in relation to drainage pumps, sluices, kokers and drainage and irrigation, generally, and to enforce any penalty clause against contractors who are in breach of their obligations under these contracts,” President Ali said in a brief statement.
According to the Head of State, he further told the Attorney General to also review all these contracts to ensure that there were penalty clauses.
“I have also instructed the Attorney General that where such penalty clauses are absent, that these contracts be renegotiated for the purpose of inserting penalty clauses, which can be activated when contractors fail to discharge their duties under such contracts,” the President disclosed.
This move by President Ali comes on the heels of him two weeks ago embarking on spontaneous visits to several kokers and sluices in and outside Georgetown during which he found one pump attendant sleeping, the koker doors closed and the pumps off.

This discovery was made during a late-night inspection on May 30, almost 24 hours after heavy rainfall had left many parts of the city flooded. The Head of State discovered that the pumps at Riverview were off, the koker doors were closed, and the worker was asleep. At Lombard Street, the pump there was also not on.
Guyana is currently experiencing torrential rainfall resulting in all 10 administrative regions in the country facing varying levels of unprecedented floods.
According to the local Civil Defence Commission (CDC), some 36,083 households are currently being impacted by flooding in more than 300 communities across the country where water is entering homes, affecting livestock and domestic animals as well as leaving farmlands inundated.

In fact, while hinterland and farming regions are the most heavily impacted, persistent rain periodically over the past few weeks has also resulted in sections of the capital city being repeatedly under water. The Hydromet Office has indicated that the inclement weather saw nearly inches of rain in Georgetown on Tuesday, which was compounded by another 2.5 inches of rainfall Wednesday morning.

Drainage structures and pumps
As such, the Agriculture Ministry had informed that all sluices were opened at noon on Wednesday to facilitate the drainage of flooded areas. The Ministry noted that the drainage pumps would be in operation during the closure of the sluices during high tides. Further, residents in Georgetown are urged to take the necessary precautions as water levels are currently high in low-lying parts of the city.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha on Wednesday, conducted an assessment of several drainage structures and pumps in Georgetown. He says the Government will continue to do its best to ensure those critical structures remain operable after complaining about the lackadaisical approach by some pump attendants and the Georgetown Mayor and City Council’s failure to ensure systems are in place to prevent flooding in the city.
“I spoke to the Town Clerk [Wednesday] morning and told her in no uncertain terms that they have to have a mechanism to check [on the drainage systems]. We are not getting the cooperation from the City Council, so we from the NDIA (National Drainage and Irrigation Authority) have to have our engineers out to check these pumps and to check and ensure the sluices are working,” Mustapha told reporters.

Severely impacted
Meanwhile, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) is one of the farming regions that have been severely impacted by the current flood crisis. Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Regional Chairman David Armogan indicated that the floodwaters were beginning to recede.
However, he explained that there were two areas of concern in the region – Babu Jaan and Ankerville – both in Port Mourant. In fact, at Ankerville, some residents have been forced to evacuate their homes as several inches of water have remained in their houses for days now, leaving a strong stench.
Three tractor-operated pumps are being used to remove the floodwaters – one at Babu Jaan and two at Ankerville.
Armogan said that the housing areas have all been empoldered. They are also trying to prevent water from flowing from the backlands into the residential areas.
“But what we have found is that because of the soft mud that we are using to empolder these areas, sometimes we get some breaches,” he pointed out.
However, the Chairman disclosed that within two days, they were able to get the water drained at Mara on the East Bank of Berbice and now in the lower East Bank Berbice between Lansdale and Khotbradt, machines are working to assist in getting the excess water out of the cultivation area.
On this note, Chairman Armogan explained that despite the heavy rainfall which the region experienced earlier this month, there was no flooding of Crabwood Creek. But he posited that the situation in Region Six was not settled since many cultivation areas on the Corentyne, East and West Canje and East Bank still have water on the land.
Meanwhile, in further response to the flood crisis in Guyana, which was upgraded to a Level Two Disaster last week, the National Emergency Operating Centre (NEOC) was activated to better coordinate and respond to the ongoing countrywide flooding. This was done by Prime Minister, Retired Brigadier Mark Phillips, who said that the NEOC will document and consolidate all response actions to date, to determine immediate and medium term needs to maximise the use of resources of all agencies.
To date, the CDC has distributed some 21,284 cleaning hampers and 26,045 food hampers across the country as a form of emergency relief. Additionally, a total of 216 persons are currently being housed in nine shelters activated in Regions Two, Five, Nine, and 10. (G8)