The flooding of Georgetown

Dec 07, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

The severe flooding that paralyzed downtown Georgetown this week, following only a brief period of rain, stands in stark and scandalous contrast to the recent triumphalist announcements earlier in 2025 regarding a billion-dollar investment in drainage infrastructure in the City made by the Minister of Agriculture Mr. Zulfikar Mustapha ( the newspapers of May 2025 have the details quoted from his speech) and His Excellency President Irfaan Ali himself boasting about “electronic monitoring of the drainage system by October 2025”.

The recent floods are not merely an unfortunate weather incident; it is a powerful indictment of the current administration’s chronic failure in deliver on all their promises around the drainage system. The PPP failed at project prioritization, the PPP failed at technical oversight, and the PPP, Minister Mustapha and President Ali failed at transparent governance.

While the Chairman of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) proudly cites a theoretical drainage capacity of over 200,000 gallons per minute from the new Liliendaal pump station (a project completed at a cost of $1.054 billion and funded by another loan and more debt on the poor people of Guyana) and another 100,000 gallons per minute for all the other combined pumps on the Demerara River ——the reality on Regent, Camp, Wellington, and Robb streets was one of profound dysfunction.

Knee-high water disrupting commerce, traffic, and the daily lives of workers, school children and other citizens. This state of affair raises an unavoidable question: of what tangible value is this expanded “capacity” if the core drainage network within the city itself remains utterly incapable of handling routine rainfall?

This disconnect reveals a familiar and troubling pattern of governance: the prioritization of high-visibility, capital-intensive projects over the essential, less-glamorous work of systemic maintenance and integrated urban planning. The government, particularly the Ministry of Agriculture under whose authority the NDIA falls, appears more focused on public relations gimmicks—showcasing certified pumps and sub-road discharge pipes—than on delivering functional, resilient infrastructure to the population. The fact that these City pump stations and the drainage system in the city has proven themselves as not ready for the reality, only deepens the concern regarding who really is conceptualizing these projects – engineers or comics who are parading as politicians? Billions are being spent every year on the drainage system and every time it is put to the test, it fails. This is a clear indictment on President Ali who choose a total failure to run this portfolio.

This incident demands that we confront the government, and specifically the Minister of Agriculture, with urgent questions and I am expecting Mr. Vishnu Panday, the lead spokesperson for the WIN Party on agriculture and Mr. Vinceroy Jordan his counterpart in the APNU to step up and expose these wrong doings happening in the Ministry of Agriculture that are bringing great harm to the citizens of Guyana.

I call on President Irfaan Ali to focus on his job and declare to the people on the following matters:

Where is the comprehensive, city-wide drainage master plan being followed? Once that plan is in place, we can safely have clarity on the gaps in the failing drainage infrastructure and hopefully a work program to fix them.
Given the massive investment made by the PPP over the last 5 years since the last National Flood Disaster in 2021, what specific, measurable improvements in flood mitigation for central Georgetown were delivered beyond the Liliendaal Pump Station that can ensure these floods in the city are minimized?
Who is being held accountable for the evident failure of coordination between the NDIA’s new assets and the municipal drainage systems, resulting in such widespread disruption?

The sight of schoolchildren removing their shoes, vendors lamenting the “Little Dubai” paradox of grand promises amid basic service failure, and traffic officers struggling to manage the chaos is the true reflection of the failure of this Irfaan Ali administration. Decade come and decade go, but the same systemic issues of poor oversight and misplaced priorities continue despite billions being spent under the Minister Zulifkar Mustapha.

Spending billions on isolated components of a system is not achievement; it is fiscal recklessness unless those components are part of a coherent, fully functional, and well-maintained whole. The flooding of Georgetown’s commercial heart is a clear signal that the whole is broken and the APNU or PNC cannot be blamed for this, the PPP has been in power for 28 of the last 33 years.

The PPP always referred to the PNC 28 years, not the PPP has their own 28 years and they are no better than what the PNC did for this nation. The public deserves an explanation for this complete failure in the system.

The government must move beyond ceremonial project openings and the idle $40,000 per plate Galas and confront the hard truth: the people of Guyana are suffering because all the billions in spending being made by the PPP Government is ending up to be meaningless since three of the key stress for the people – floods, blackouts and high cost of living are totally out of order.

Vishnu Prashad

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drainage, flooding, Georgetown, Letters, rainfall, Vishnu Prashad

One thought on “The flooding of Georgetown”

habeeb December 7, 2025 at 10:48 am

Instead of giving LOANS to purchase Vehicles-
Give the loans to all citizens to purchase “flat bottom” aluminum 12-15
foot boats… and paddles only.
This will be handy when rain falls and flooding is widespread in the city.
And, remember, GT is below sea level- so there will always be flooding.

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