Upgrading of treatment facilities to follow $1.2B infrastructure boost
Residents of large areas of south and north Georgetown can anticipate major improvements in water quality early next year to add to a more than $1.2B investment in water delivery infrastructure completed in those areas last year, according to Guyana Water Inc (GWI) Chief Executive Officer Karan Singh.
During two lengthy interviews conducted with Singh over the past two weeks Stabroek Business learnt that the completion of extensive pipe-laying, metering, water hydrant and mains installations is to be followed this year by the equipping of the water pumping systems at Central Ruimveldt and Sophia with a range of treatment facilities including aerators, oxidation tanks and filters to remove the iron content from water now being supplied. These improvement works are scheduled to be completed early in 2009.
According to Singh residential and business consumers in sections of Georgetown have already begun to benefit from the rehabilitation and upgrading of water infrastructure under the Georgetown Water Supply and Sewerage Programme 11 in what he says is a phased programme to provide urban consumers with a modern, safe and reliable water supply system.
During the recent interviews with Singh, Stabroek Business was provided with details of water system improvement and upgrading works in several urban communities including Zone W4 comprising areas of Roxanne Burnham Gardens, Rasville, Shirley Field Ridley Square, and East and West Ruimveldt and Zone W14 comprising areas east of Sheriff Street to the Eastern Highway and including areas of Section K, Campbellville, Lamaha Gardens and Prashad Nagar.
Contracts for the rehabilitation and upgrading works in Zones W4 and W14 totalling more than $678M were awarded to local contractors S.A.Nabi & Sons Ltd., in October 2004. Singh told Stabroek Business that rehabilitation commenced in Zone W14 in June, 2005 and in Zone W4 in July of the same year and that both rehabilitation exercises were completed in August last year in both zones. However, the contractor was given additional work to transfer the customers’ connections from the old to the new mains and to isolate and disconnect the old distribution mains. This exercise was completed in February 2008 in Zone W14 and in May 2008 in Zone W4.
According to Singh much of the upgrading and rehabilitation involved the removal of existing pipes which he said had been made of asbestos cement and had been in use over the past thirty years. “The pipes had become soft as a result of the acidic nature of the water being transported through them and were being easily ruptured,” Singh told Stabroek Business. Singh said that new distribution mains have been laid on both sides of the roadways in order to avoid cutting across road surfaces and that mains had been located in fields in order to stay clear of obstacles including vaults and buried cables installed by the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL).
Singh said that the contracts also provided for the installation of new fire hydrants in the two Zones and for the removal, rehabilitation and re-painting of old hydrants to enable their use as replacements for damaged hydrants in other areas of the city. Work on the replacement of old fire hydrants is nearing completion.
Meanwhile Singh told Stabroek Business that new service connections and water meters have been installed at all house connections in the two zones. Since billing will be based on actual consumption water meters will allow for equitable billing. “What is more important to GWI, however, is that metering results in the reduction of wastage which has long been a major challenge for the company,” Singh said.
The contract provided for the installation of 44.9 miles of pipeline, 80 fire hydrants and 3,970 new service connections including new water meters in two zones, allowing for variations.
Singh told Stabroek Business that while an upgraded water supply system was part of the mission of the GWI he hoped that the amount of money being expended on the upgrading works would help consumers better appreciate the cost attached to providing potable water.
Meanwhile, another engineering firm, UEM-GEM Ltd. is currently undertaking a similar water infrastructure rehabilitation exercise in Zone W2 comprising areas of South Ruimveldt Gardens, Tuc-Ville, Stevedore Scheme and East Ruimveldt, East and North La Penitence. Singh told Stabroek Business that the $509,469,634 contract was awarded in October 2005 and that work on the project was completed in July last year. He pointed out, however, that the contractors had been given additional work to transfer customers’ connections from the old to the new distribution mains and to isolate and disconnect the old distribution mains and that this exercise is expected to be completed by the end of July. He said that most of the rehabilitation works carried out in Zone W2 were similar to those undertaken in the other two zones but that works in ZoneW2 included the reinstatement of roads, driveways, bridges and sidewalks damaged during the course of construction.
Work in Zone W2 included the installation of 34.4 miles of pipes, 74 new fire hydrants, and 2,225 new service connections, including new water meters. Singh said that these quantities also varied during the construction phase.
