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Millions earmarked for Region Three water supply

May 21, 2009 News

Almost $600 M has been earmarked to boost the water supply in several Region Three communities, said Minister of Housing Irfaan Ali when he commented on recent water woes being experienced by residents.
According to the Minister, “We are not satisfied with the level of service.
We cannot be satisfied until we would have accomplished the targets that we have set ourselves in the turnaround plan and our strategic plan for Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI).”
Minister Ali said that medium to long term plans have been outlined and include the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal— achieving a minimum service pressure of five metres; achieving continuous supply; reducing non-revenue water to about 35 per cent; increasing treated water coverage to about 65 per cent; increasing the level of service and increasing coverage of metering to about 71 per cent.
“This is the medium to long term target that we have set ourselves so all of the infrastructural development that we are embarking on now is to achieve these goals,” the Minister said.
And there is always the constraint of financial resources, which necessitates the programming and prioritising of resources, which has been compounded by the introductions of several new housing areas, he added.
“What happened is that over the last 10 to 12 years we have had a massive construction boom and expansion of housing areas in Guyana. However what has not occurred concurrently is the simultaneous expansion of the water network distribution system and this of course has to do a lot with the prioritising of resources.”
“If you look at the Tuschen/Zeelugt area, for example, you are talking about an additional 45,000 people who will be living in that area, that is, new residents in addition to the persons who were serviced from the old distribution network.”
According to the Minister, since the GWI did not expand the supply of water there has ultimately been stress on the existing network coupled with the aging infrastructure.
He said that the well at Tuschen is more than 50 years old, thus it collapsed because more and more persons were utilising it.
He said that it was observed that there was need to address the issue from different perspectives.
GWI has since rehabilitated the Tuschen well at a cost of  $15 M, the Minister said, adding that it is already functional. He however noted that the well still does not have the capacity to service that area.
He said that the Vergenoegen well which was recently rehabilitated at a cost of $60 M will now be interconnected with the Tuschen network and will service Tuschen, Zeelugt and the contiguous areas, catering to about 18,000 customers.
“In addition to that, we are spending about $400M on a water treatment plant, so in that locality which you will see almost $600 M being spent to service and it will also see the upgrading of the entire network and the plant will be completed before the end of the year so that area will also benefit from treated water,” the Minister disclosed.
Plans are also apace for the West Bank of Demerara the Minister said pointing out that there are stress areas in water supply such as Parfait Harmonie and Belle West, which is an extension of Canal Polder.
He divulged that a new well has been earmarked for Parfait Harmonie to service some 51,000 people.
“We have to put a well there; we have already identified resources. The project design has been completed and we are about to tender.”
The Minister said that plans are apace for a well at Wales that would also cater to La Grange and Belle West.
According to the Minister, “We are trying to interconnect all wells on the network to have a flow that support each other rather than have them be independent.”

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