Georgetown: Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Drainage and Irrigation Department [NDIA], has installed a large mobile hydraulic pump by the Three Friends sluice on the Essequibo Coast to boost drainage between Reliance and Capoey.
The pump which has a capacity to discharge some 120 cubic feet of water per second was installed and put in operation last week in an emergency effort to drain a high build-up of rainfall water in canals, trenches and some rice lands with young rice plants because of the blockage of the Three Friends sluice channel.
Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture, Ali Baksh said the Government has spent more than $100M to set up the pump to boost drainage within the Reliance and Capoey area in light of serious accretion that is taking place on the foreshore of the Atlantic Ocean between Devonshire Castle and La Union.
Looking back 21 years ago when this Government took over the reins of power from the People’s National Congress (PNC) Government, Baksh reminded farmers and residents that the Three Friends sluice was abandoned as well as Devonshire Castle, while sluices at La Union, Lima and Aurora had serious problems.
Baksh told farmers that because of bad management and poor drainage systems under the PNC Government only 22,000 acres out of some 32,500 acres were planted with very low production.
Baksh said because of good management and investment in the drainage and irrigation system by the Government farmers have expanded production by more than 5,000 acres and the production is very far higher than the previous Government.
He noted that while the Government is building new sluices and setting up mobile pumps there are new problems emerging and pointed to climatic conditions and global warming as one area. He said there is serious accretion taking place on the fore shore which has never being seen before.
Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority {NDIA], Mr. Lionel Wordsworth said the pump that was deployed to the site was in discussion for a long time. He said there are similar projects across the country taking place and pointed to Region 3 (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara, East Coast Demerara and Region 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne).
According to the CEO accretion is very predominant along the foreshore of the Essequibo Coast and is very active in the dry season. He said similar problems are also taking place in Region 3, Black Bush Polder and most of the other administrative regions.
The CEO explained that a few years ago the Government of Guyana entered into a line of credit agreement with the Government of India whereby a contract was signed for the supply of 14 pumps to Guyana. He said the pump at Three Friends is one from that line of credit agreement.
Mr. Wordsworth said a bigger facility which can discharge 200 cubic feet of water per second will be set up at Lima. He said the tender is already out in the newspapers for the project.
The CEO said in the Region 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam) the challenges of accretion faced by residents, farmers and the Government will not go away, it will stay with us and the Government will continue to make interventions to set up pumps at specific locations. He also called for better work to be done in the dredging of sluice channels.
Mr. Wordsworth said the unit at Three Friends is designed to discharge 120 cubic feet of water per second and called for the channel to the sluice to be dredged so as to have a faster draught of water when the pump is in operation.
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