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Hope Canal Project… Contractors’ unsatisfactory work stalls completion – Harmon
Minister of State Joseph Harmon
The East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC)’s Hope Canal project, at Hope on the East Coast Demerara – the “brainchild “ of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic Administration, is being plagued by the aftermath of the unsatisfactory work that was carried out by contactors, thus delaying the completion of the multi-billion-dollar venture.
The project is a four-component development and was touted as being a solution to the flooding being experienced along Guyana’s Coastal Plain. It includes a structure with a channel which will work in conjunction with three other components: a high level sluice outfall structure, the conservancy head regulator and a public bridge.
Minister of State Joseph Harmon yesterday during a post-cabinet press briefing said the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI) is currently in consultation with the contractors who worked on the bridge across the canal and those who are working on the completion of the canal itself.
According to Harmon, almost every week the Ministry of Public Infrastructure has been carrying out repairs to the bridge.
“The bridge which was commissioned…almost every week the Ministry of Public Infrastructure has to do repair works on that bridge, because it is moving as the traffic moves, and so there’s always a gap between the bridge and that road, and so that is a construction matter,” Harmon explained.
Additionally, the canal itself, the head regulator and the eight-door sluice are yet to be completed, Harmon added.
“There was the Hope bypass, which meant that water from the conservancy would have been filtered through a head filter operation at the commencement of the canal through the eight-gate sluice and then the water goes into the Atlantic. As far as I’m aware, the process has not been completed…there is also the issue of sea defence; beyond the sluice there were some issues there as to who is responsible for beyond the sluice going into the Atlantic,” the Minister said.
The US$15M project was expected to offer a solution to the annual flooding experienced in the Mahaica/Mahaicony Abary areas during the rainy periods. However, the project over the years has been facing intense scrutiny.
An Audit Report into the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) revealed that the cost for the project was actually $500M over the amount that was disclosed by the previous administration.
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Whoever touted the idea that the Hope Canal Project will percent flooding in Regions Four and Five is using hyperbole. There is no doubt the it will drastically reduce flooding in region four but not in region five. There are lots of benefits from this project if it is implemented and managed properly. However, we seem to have a problem with government in Guyana. The new government spends too much time discrediting the previous one, while at the same time forgetting that government is continuous. You may identify the problems but have to move on. Valuable time is wasted. We saw how much time the PPP spent blaming the PNC for Guyana’s woes. The APNU AFC is doing the same. Enough of this, let move on.