WCD sea defence structure will feature new design – River defence officer

With the completion of temporary repairs along the West Coast of Demerara (WCD) sea defence to fix ruptures caused by a massive high spring tide earlier this month, there are plans make modifications to the design of the structure, for the permanent works, which are yet to commence.
This was announced by the Chief Sea and River Officer, Kevin Samad, who noted that 100 feet of the concrete structure that lined the shoreline, was partially broken in the high tide episode. He stated that the Sea and River Defence Unit is on a mission to have all the concrete replaced with a newly designed rip-rap structure.
“We have adapted the rip-rap design which is a more robust design for these areas. That will be our primary intervention for the last three decades on Guyana’s coast. We have been progressing with replacing all the concrete areas with rip-rap structures,” he stated.
While noting that the works completed thus far were temporary, the permanent works will begin in a few months.
“We had completed an exercise where we did temporary works by placing boulders on the seaward face of the damaged sections. Those works are of temporary nature,” he stated.
Currently, the areas are being assessed after which a suitable design will be selected that is believed to be suitable for protection against waves and tides. These works will be designated to a contractor by public procurement process.
“What we’re doing there now is we’re assessing the area to finalise some designs and after that we’ll go to tender for a more permanent work on the latter part [of this year],” Samad explained.
While the tender will open in about three weeks, an evaluation is the next step. The permanent works will be awarded “around half the year” after which construction will commence.
Earlier last week, visits were made to the area by Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson along with the Regional Chairman of Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Julius Faeber in which the areas were examined.
Waves from the high spring tide came into contact with the seawalls along the WCD about a month ago, resulting in the destruction of four sections along the concrete structure, causing major flooding. Immediately, members of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) were deployed to the varying areas, where sandbags were used to temporarily fill the open gaps. When the water retreated, the Public Infrastructure Ministry hired contractors to conduct temporary repairs by placing boulders along the gaps where sandbags were once used. However, these works were halted due to a shortage of the boulders for the completion of the ruptured sections of the seawall, which was later completed upon the attainment of the remaining boulders. Presently, this makeshift model will act as a shield until actions are taken by the River Defence Unit to fix the structures.
In the near future, the main focus of the newly designed permanent structure will be in Leonora and Uitvlugt, which suffered more severe damages. Presently, indications predict that residents will see the entire concrete wall being replaced with a rip-rap structure.