EU donates $2B, Engineering Design manual for Guyana’s Sea and River Defences

Jun 28, 2016 News

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Citizens who have long been plagued by flooding will soon be able to breathe a sigh of relief. The sea and river defences will undergo a positive transformation in the coming months – courtesy of the European Union (EU).
EU Ambassador to Guyana, Jernej Videtič, last evening at the Marriot Hotel, Kingston Georgetown, handed over $2.261B to the government to improve the country’s sea and river defences. He also handed over the final copy of the Coastal Engineering Design Manual for the Guyana Sea and River Defences.
Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, received the fund on behalf of the state in the presence of his Cabinet colleagues, representatives of the River and Sea Defence Department, foreign dignitaries and stakeholders.
Receiving the manual was the Minister of Public Infrastructure (MPI), David Patterson.
Minister Jordan extended gratitude to the EU. He said that as the Minister of Finance, he is pleased and happy “to participate in proceedings where new or addition financial resources are being made available to my country,”
“This is especially so, at a time, when Britain’s vote to exit the European Union (BREXIT) has sent shockwaves through the international community while creating uncertainty, fear and distress about the future relations between the European Union and the Caribbean – on the one hand, and between Britain and the Caribbean on the other.”
Guyana has always valued its relationship with the EU – one of the largest donors to the country, Jordan said.
The Minster added that Guyana has benefitted from a number of EU-supported projects and programmes in various sectors of the economy over the years with the sea and river defence sector consuming the bulk of the resources.
“In fact, outside of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), I believe that the European Union is the only active donor in this sector. The EU’s partnership with the Government in this sector dates back to the fourth EDF (European Development Fund) in the late 1970’s.
Since the seventh EDF, which was signed in February, 1994, the EU has contributed over 65M Euros or nearly $14B toward the construction, rehabilitation and/or maintenance approximately 35 kilometres of sea defence structures in Regions Two, Three, Four and Six.
During the ceremony at the Marriott, Minister Patterson thanked the EU for its support. He said that the completed manual was the realisation of a long process. He added that the manual is the “intended blue print for how we are going to proceed.”
He further deemed the $2B disbursement as “extremely heartening”. He said that the administration had inherited a situation which made it unable to access the EU funds immediately.

“So, while this disbursement represents a great payment towards our coastal zone protection, it also represents a stride forward for this administration,” he said.
Additionally, the Government of Guyana has made significant progress in developing capacity for protecting itself from rising sea levels, through means such as the formulation of an Integrated Coastal Zone Management and the drafting of a new Sector Policy and Strategy.
Ambassador Videtič said that sea and river defences have been an important feature of the relationship between Guyana and the EU. Noting that Guyana is “particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels and coast erosion” of both natural and manmade sea defences, the Ambassador emphasised that Guyana needed to develop its capacities to adapt to its vulnerabilities.
The aim, he added, was to limit the negative impacts of rising sea levels and climate change.
“I am pleased to note that over the past two years, Guyana has shown marked progress in developing capacity for protecting itself from rising sea levels,” Ambassador Videtič said.
He continued, “A newly developed Coastal Engineering Design Manual sets the standards for designing sea and river defences specific to Guyana’s conditions.”
The handing over ceremony comes almost seven months after the Ministry and the EU partnered to host a two-day workshop to finalise the document, a release from the Ministry stated.
On December 8, last year, staff from MPI’s Sea and River Defence Department gathered to offer their input on the manual, with the goal of improving Guyana’s sea defence system.
The manual aims to provide appropriate and practical guidance for applications of methods and techniques in regards to the design and implementation of coastal engineering projects in Guyana.
These projects concern new constructions or repair and rehabilitation of existing ones; the prevention of the erosion of oceanic, estuarine, and recessed coasts; coastal flooding; and the heavy damage from wave attacks to valuable coastal commercial, urban, and tourist communities of Guyana.
The manual was put together by a team of consultants who would have spent time in Guyana interacting with a number of agencies, including the Ministry of Agriculture; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Transport and Harbours Department; and the Central Housing and Planning Authority.
Focus areas in the document include integrated planning for sea and river defence works in Guyana; the physical site conditions and data collection issues; and natural flood protection systems along Guyana’s oceanic coast and river banks and their relevance to the shore zone management process.
Under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) framework from 2007 to 2013, EU–Guyana cooperation has focused on a number of areas, including sea defences.
The Government of Guyana and the EU are currently developing a subsequent Sea and River Defence programme under the 11th European Development Fund. Under the 11th EDF, support to the sector will be more than doubled to approximately $7B.

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