While the $1.7B spent for drainage and irrigation work last year seems to be a “sexy number”, in the context of what is required to get the drainage system working, it is not significant, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud says.
The $1.7B was spent across six regions “a lot of money in our context, but what requires to be done, I’m telling you, it is not significant”, he stated.
“We spend every week here, we go through how it is we can cut and fit the limited money we have in terms of responding to a drainage need. We are also going out begging people to help us”, said the Agriculture Minister at a press conference yesterday. He declared that the resources are insufficient but this is due to the economic and budgetary constraints. He declared that submissions made yearly are not fully satisfied “so we have a wider plan we know what needs to be done in getting that sorted out”.
He said that based on the resources allocated in 2008, the agencies were able to respond. He said that they were able to manage rainfall more than what was thought to have caused the 2005 flood and had been able to avoid a disaster of that proportion.