Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali updated residents of several communities in Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) recently about progress in providing then with potable water under the Hinterland Water Strategy programme.
According to a release from the Government Information Agency (GINA), Ali met residents of Parishara, Nappi, Hiowa, Karasabai and Tiger Pond in Lethem while carrying out inspections to several hand pumps, storage tanks, trestles and distribution network systems.
‘We would have those tenders advertised very shortly, we are waiting for final approval from the Japanese government and when we get that approval those tenders would be advertised and then we will move to installation,” Ali told them. He said one of the challenges faced by the ministry is the fact that many of the hinterland communities are widely scattered and wells cannot be constructed at every location.
“What we are doing at the Ministry of Housing now is that we have core pilot programmes that we are bringing on stream to have what we call hinterland communities. Instead of having persons scattered about, we will go to the communities and see if we can develop an area where we can bring the people together to live… so that we could provide a network service to persons in an easier and a cheaper manner,” Ali was quoted as saying.
The minister said Guyana Water Inc officials will be returning to the area in the coming weeks to conduct works on existing sources of water supply while the possibility of establishing new sources of water and their locations are being examined, the release stated.
More than $70M will be spent on the provision of potable water in the hinterland areas to facilitate the drilling of wells, provision of storage tanks, and installation of solar systems as well as upgrading the distribution network. In addition, Ali said, an elaborate plan, which includes a hydro power project and a carbon credit initiative, has been outlined by the administration for the economic development of the hinterland area.
According to GINA, over 100 new sources of water have been constructed to benefit some 28,000 persons at a cost of over $90M in Regions One, Four, Five, Six, Eight and Nine under the Hinterland Water Strategy and among ongoing projects undertaken to improve access to safer water in the hinterland is the introduction of the bio-sand filter project to allow access to potable water where a good quality source does not exist.
