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Mocha residents concerned at stymied NDIA project
Some of the road building materials that is preventing the NDIA excavator from cleaning the canal.
Residents of Mocha, East Bank Demerara are calling on the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) to complete irrigation works which leads out to the entrance of Mocha and which started in September last.
According to 65-year-old Lloyd Roberts of Mocha, the main irrigation channel for Mocha, which can be seen from the entrance of Mocha, is silted and narrow, and as such contributes to the flooding of the area when there is heavy rainfall. This especially affects the farmers in Mocha.
He said that the works to clear the canal started in Barnwell North, Mocha and were stalled by materials owned by Courtney Benn Contracting Services Limited that are now on the government reserve and on the parapet of the road.
“A lot of the sand and other road building materials went into the canal, and he later placed a mud barrier, but the amount of different construction material has spread into the canal causing it to get narrower.”
Adding that the canal needs to be dug for the free flow of water, Roberts said the machine from the NDIA visited the canal twice to dig it but materials on the parapet of the road prevented any operation.
“I called NDIA to find out what going on and they say that they give Courtney Benn Contracting Services 72 hours to remove the stuff. Those 72 hours expired three weeks ago. I speak to Raphael Gravesande and then I discussed it with the Chief Executive Officer Lionel Wordsworth on Monday and again this morning (yesterday).” Roberts said. “The CEO told me this morning (yesterday) that the machine gone to do some emergency work.”
He said that he was told by the NDIA official that when the machine had finished digging the Northern canal the material must be removed. However, that has not been done.
When this newspaper tried contacting the CEO (ag), NDIA, Lionel Wordsworth he was in a meeting, however, an email was sent to him pending a rely.
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