Dear Editor,

We, the residents of Dochfour/Ann’s Grove/Two Friends/ Hope and the Lowland villages of the East Coast of Demerara, would like to state that Dochfour residents were told verbally for the first time in February 2009 that a new canal would be dug in the area to prevent future flooding. This occurred at a street-corner meeting to which residents were invited by the Minister of Agriculture along with the head and surveyor from the National Drainage & Irrigation Authority (NDIA). At no time were residents provided with anything in writing, either to justify the need for the new canal, or to show how the government will calculate compensation for loss of homes, crops, livestock and farmlands. Nor has any explanation been provided to assure Dochfour and all surrounding communities that the new canal will not threaten lives and livelihoods.

At a subsequent meeting held in a yard at Dochfour, representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Privatization Unit took down details from some residents in attendance. No questions were permitted. The people who came claimed to know nothing of the issues of concern to residents.

On March 23 at the invitation of the Ministry of Agriculture, some forty residents from Dochfour met with officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Privatization Unit, the NDIA and Lands & Surveys. The request was repeated for a written document explaining what the project was intended to accomplish and why it had to pass through Dochfour. The officials informed residents that a feasibility study had not been undertaken. They also confirmed that the new structure would be a high-level, rather than a low-level canal. After refusing to take any more questions, the majority of the residents left the meeting. Some of those who remained were persons re-located from the Mahaica Creek to Hope who now would have to be relocated again because of the proposed canal. Since relocation in April 2008 they have not received the 5 acres promised to each family.

Since January, many qualified people have written letters to the newspapers raising detailed questions and reservations about the new canal. The majority of them also recommended that any new drainage or storage canal should be at the Demerara River end of the conservancy, not at the eastern end.

Without responding to any of these concerns, we read the story in Stabroek News of Saturday, March 21, 2009 that the contract for the design of the canal and a range of studies had been signed with the Cemco/SRKN’gineering in association with the UK-based Mott MacDonald company.

Many residents are concerned about all of these developments. We believe the government would like to get the residents off their lands and homes, piece by piece, before anyone has time to understand what is taking place.

We are, therefore, calling on the government to provide a feasibility study before implementing the proposed canal, in order to establish −

1. that the proposed structure and the chosen location for it are the best option to resolve the conservancy problem;

2. that a thorough rehabilitation of the existing conservancy infrastructure is inadequate to resolve the problem; and

3. the proposed structure does not pose a threat to the East Coast communities in general.

Yours faithfully,
Roy Doodnauth
Patricia Sertimer
Natasha Stuart
Gail Ann Stanford
Latchmin Singh
and many others

Editor’s note

We are sending a copy of this letter to Minister of Agriculture, Mr Robert Persaud, for any comments he might wish to make.