$$$ released for dredging of Coomacka River- Region 10 Chairman

While not giving the exact figure of the amount of money that has been released for the dredging of the Coomacka River at Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), Regional Chairman Renis Morian has said that “millions” was given for the project.
In 2017, the community’s river suffered severe and intense erosion and at least half of it was rendered impassable. This was added to an already existing situation of intense flooding across the small remote farming community due to heavy rains. The situation had prompted response from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) and regional officials who conducted numerous examinations to the affected areas. The Regional Chairman had pointed out that the situation was

partly due to the aftereffects of bauxite mining activities conducted in the community years ago.
“Some millions have been released this year to start with the dredging of the river. Some of us will remember that the initial cost of the programme was in excess of six hundred million dollars, plus they wanted technical overview on how to deal with it. It’s like a hundred years bauxite mining, to clean up all them trucks from up there, chemicals left; you got to find the kind of trees to grow within the chemicals and a whole lot of studies high over my head. But I know for sure that monies have been allocated this year for that,” Morian said on Thursday.
The Regional Chairman had asserted that the community has always suffered from erosion, an issue triggered by intense rainfall. At the time, the Regional Chairman had indicated that the area lacked maintenance which was not done in over 15 years. He said this eventually led to the situation worsening. An official had also noted that based on assessment, the situation had gotten so out of hand that one could walk across the river.