Wakenaam, Leguan sea-defence to be completed before 2019 – Patterson

Sea defence works which were awarded for the islands of Leguan and Wakenaam in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) are on stream and will be completed before the end of 2018.
This was the position shared by the Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson who told Guyana Times on Thursday that the project is now in the mobilisation stage after which works will commence.
“As far as I am aware, I would think that the contracts have been awarded and contractors were mobilised. We expect them to be substantially completed before the end of the year. It’s a three-month contract but I don’t know exactly how far

they’ve gone but so far, they’re on stream.”
The three-month arrangement was awarded earlier this year and the new structure will feature a modernised design. This was taken into account after sections of the West Coast Demerara seawall was ruptured by the Atlantic waves back in March. The new construction features new materials and design which can withstand any mishaps.
“The first thing they do is mobilise the materials and that is going on right now. We’ve taken accounts for all the issues and so we’ve modified it slightly to ensure that it stands better,” said Patterson.
The Minister would have also stated that 1.2km of works was completed at Winsor Forest, Waller’s Delight and Ruimzeigt on the West Coast of Demerara.
On the West Coast, works were done to mend the broken sections of the seawall and these were carried out La Jalousie, Blankenburg, Den Amstel, Stewartville and Leonora. A separate project was also allocated for the restoration of sluices.
Waves from the high spring tide crashed into the seawalls, resulting in the destruction of four sections along the concrete structure and causing major flooding. Immediately, members of the Civil Defence Commission were deployed to the varying areas. Sandbags were the only available option and were later replaced with boulders, which were placed at areas where there were breakages in the sea-defence structures. This temporary intervention was later replaced with the permanent works.
A part of the new design, rip rap materials were used, which is robustly suitable for the magnitude of waves that are continuous. In the near future, the main focus of the newly designed permanent structure will be in Leonora and Uitvulgt, which suffered more severe damages.
For the past three decades, there have been ongoing efforts to replace the concrete structures with rip-rap, especially since Guyana’s coast is meters below sea-level. Additionally, there is also some impact to Guyana when its neighbouring countries are at the hands of natural disasters.