Dear Editor,
We, the concerned residents of Dochfour, Two Friends, Hope/Lowlands and Ann’s Grove would like to clarify some issues arising from the letter written by the CEO of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), Mr Lionel Wordsworth printed in the Stabroek News on April 3, 2009 (‘Studies by both local and international experts indicate that an additional outlet is required for the conservancy’).
The CEO stated that the bids for designing a new Hope canal were advertised between January 7 and January 27, 2009. But residents were only informed about the proposed canal for the first time on February 7, 2009 at a street-end gathering in Dochfour. A couple of weeks before this, after the bad December/January flooding in our area, the Ministry of Agriculture sent workers to share some packets of seed, fertilizer and insecticide. The amount was too small to be distributed fairly amongst all the residents so we told them we would not take it as it would cause confusion.
On February 7 the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Housing, the NDIA head, a representative from the Privatization Unit and three other employees called us together. They shared out some 30 pounds of fertilizer per person, two small bottles of insecticide and some packets of seeds and gave the community two spray cans. They then told us about the proposed canal.
They showed us on a piece of paper how the canal would run; that only one row of houses would be affected; that it would take 150ft and would be “as straight as ever.” We asked them if the 150ft would be taken from both the eastern and western sides. They couldn’t answer us. We asked them to show us a study that should be done beforehand before laying a canal. They couldn’t answer us.
During the same gathering, about a dozen people unknown to residents, were circulating among us telling us we would be compensated well, even giving a figure of $40M. One female resident had cause to tell one of the strangers who came in a car that maybe he should give her his house and car and take the $40M. We may look like simple people, but some of us have lived here for over sixty years and many of our parents and grandparents were born here. We continue to work hard on our farmlands.
We don’t believe this proposed canal will only affect a few households. At the moment they have surveyed about eleven households.
We don’t think they have a proper plan in place for compensation, much less allocation or farmlands. This was clear to us when the Ministry or Agriculture called us to a meeting on March 23 at the forestry department. We have to learn from the experience of the Mahaica farmers. They were encouraged to move from the flooded-out Mahaica Creek to Hope with promises of at 1east 5 acres each of farmland and house lots since last year April. These families are now living in Hope in small houses donated by Food for The Poor without any land; in our area the average number of persons, including children, in each household is six.
Furthermore, from the information from another letter in the Stabroek News, we now read that the award of tenders for the design of the canal was not as clear as it should have been. The Ministry of Agriculture and the NDIA should explain how CEMCO was awarded a contract.
We state again our position that a proper feasibility study is needed to establish that the proposed canal is the best option to resolve the conservancy problem, and proof that this option does not constitute a threat to families in Dochfour, Two Friends and surrounding villages, and to the East Coast Villages in general.
Yours faithfully,
Roy Doodnauth
Dawn Washington
and many others
