Hope Canal only 10 percent complete after one year

Dec 20, 2011 News

Hope Canal has been identified as one of the largest infrastructure initiatives in the history

Current construction on the Hope Canal

of Guyana by newly appointed Minister of Agriculture, Dr Leslie Ramsammy. To date, only 10 percent of the project has been completed since former Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud estimated an 18-month completion. Construction commenced in February 2011.
Dr Ramsammy predicts that the excavating of the canal itself will conclude by December 2012. The building of the bridges and other major aspects will conclude for May 2013. The excavation of the canal is starting from the conservancy and will end at the seawall boundary to the north.
The Canal is being constructed to ease the pressure of water on the Conservancy at times when it has reached its maximum capacity. The areas of East Coast Demerara and West Berbice are flood-prone areas and are heavily affected by excessive rain, overflow of the Conservancy and rising sea levels.
The project has been divided into four major parts, with the first being the actual excavation of the 10.3km long earthen channel from the East Demerara Water Conservancy to the coastal spill off at the other end of the Canal.
The other three parts of the project are the civil works – a three-gated conservancy head regulator, a bridge across the East Coast Public Road and the eight-gated high level outfall at the Atlantic end of the Canal.
The Ministry of Agriculture, through its National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) has undertaken the excavation aspect of the project leaving the civil works to the three awarded contractors BK International, DIPCON Engineering and Courtney Benn Contracting Services.
Officials have said that the head regulator will release the waters of the conservancy into the canal and control the level and intensity of the release, based on the drainage needs at the time.
The bridge construction will call for the demolition of a section of the East Coast Public Road as well as the excavation of soil for the channel and the construction of the bridge supports.
Dr Ramsammy added that the Ministry fully supports the construction of the canal because of its necessity to the area. “One and a half inches of rain over a 24-hour period causes flooding of the Conservancy. With the building of the Hope Canal this will no longer financially affect the area.”
Farmers in the vicinity of the Hope Canal construction had complained to the Ministry about the lack of drainage during their visit last Thursday. Dr Ramsammy said that a temporary drainage option has been established to make life easier for the farmers.
He added that a permanent structure for farmers to use as drainage is in the process of being built.