Enough capital available to complete $3B Hope/ Dochfour Canal project- Ramsammy

Dec 30, 2012 News

By Rehana Ashley Ahamad

Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, has said that monies allocated for the construction of the $3B Northern Relief Channel at Hope/Dochfour on the East Coast of Demerara, will not run out and leave the project stalled.
Ramsammy made this announcement during his end of year briefing on the Agriculture Industry in Guyana, yesterday.
He told media operatives that the project is still expected to be completed on the extended deadline of May-June 2013.
“The excavation of the channel is approximately 80 per cent completed. Works on the Public Road Bridge, outfall structure and the head regulator continued in 2012 and the completion of the Relief Channel and commissioning will be in 2013,” the end of year report stated.
The sluice, Dr Ramsammy explained is 30 percent completed, with the head regulator being 40 percent completed, and the bridge, 35 percent. There is $500M remaining of the allocated $3B, which Dr Ramsammy reiterated, will be sufficient to complete the remainder of the project.
As of last September, the status of the project was given at an approximated 75 percent completion, with a whopping $2B being spent. Hope Canal has been identified as one of the largest infrastructure initiatives in Guyana’s history.
Former Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, who initiated the project, had estimated an 18-month completion after construction commenced in February 2011. The nation is now days away from 2013.
Nonetheless, Ramsammy is hopeful that there may not be a need to further extend the duration of the project.
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 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 300 feet long 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), is responsible for the excavation aspect of the project, while the civil works is being undertaken by the three 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.

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