Agri. Ministry acquires $438M amphibious excavators

Jan 01, 2023 News

Kaieteur News – Three amphibious excavators which cost $438,654,750 and procured by the Ministry of Agriculture’s Agriculture Sector Development Unit (ASDU) were on Friday inspected and tested as part of the government’s ongoing flood risk management project.

The equipment will be used to execute the upcoming phase of reconstruction of the north-eastern dam of the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC), the Ministry of Agriculture said in a press release.

One of the three amphibious excavators procured by the Ministry of Agriculture

With flood risk management being high on the government’s agenda, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha said that the government has been consistently investing in developing improved drainage structures.

“These excavators will not only be used in this conservancy. They will also be used to execute work in different parts of the country depending on the needs within those areas. Outfalls that lead directly to the Atlantic Ocean become silted and we have to do work to desilt them. We’ll have to use these types of machines to do those works. We will ensure we continue to invest in modern machinery to develop the sector and make it more sustainable and attractive,” the Minister said.

Chairman of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), Lionel Wordsworth said “The acquisition of these equipment would give support to in-house capacity and add to the skill set within the management of the conservancy so that we can execute and implement all planned works,”

Wordsworth said that should there be phenomenal amounts of rainfall; NDIA has the ability to discharge capacity with the new Hope Canal, and the restored Cunha Canal.

The Chairman also noted that similar upgrades would be done to infrastructure along the Coast.

The excavators are said to be the largest in the Caribbean, comprising DX300 Long Reach superstructures, each mounted on two hydraulic amphibious pontoons.

Following the 2005 flood and overtopping of the EDWC, former President and now Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo sought assistance from international donor agencies to fund projects to develop Guyana’s flood risk management.

The Vice President was also responsible for pursuing the construction of the Hope Canal which drains excess water from the EDWC to the Atlantic Ocean, the Ministry said.

The project, which is funded by a loan from the World Bank, aims to significantly increase flood resilience in the low-lying coastal lands of the East Demerara area, which includes the country’s capital, Georgetown, where much of the population, as well as administrative and commercial activities, are concentrated.

The additional financing also caters for extensive work to improve the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC), one of Guyana’s major water storage and flood control facilities.

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