Jagdeo signals massive mangrove planting project
The ability of the Georgetown Municipality to address the problem of flooding in the city was yesterday significantly boosted when the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) commissioned and handed over two recently rehabilitated pumps at the Liliendaal Pump Station.
The pumps were officially commissioned by President Bharrat Jagdeo, who had instructed that work be done by the NDIA on the Liliendaal and Kitty pump stations following the December/January rainy season. Work on both projects amounted to more than $130 million with the Liliendaal project costing $76,150,000. The project was awarded in March of this year to contractor Harrychand Tulsie after the project was put up for tender. Prior to rehabilitation works, the facility was performing only at 60 to 65 percent of its output capacity.
Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NDIA Lionel Wordsworth said that the facility accounts for 50 percent of the city’s pump drainage and that the two electrical drainage pumps will now be operating at the combined discharge capacity of 300 cu. secs.
The pumps can be operated irrespective of the state of the tidal conditions, he said. According to him, work on the project was supervised by NDIA and by an official appointed by the City Council. He noted that prior to the rehabilitative work essential components were worn out and damaged beyond repair.
In a brief address, President Jagdeo congratulated the Agriculture Ministry for completing the project and stated that he was really impressed with the transformation of the facility since the last time he visited. He said that the rehabilitation of this facility was important since it drains a significant portion of the city.
The Head of State noted that this was one of many facilities that would have to be rehabilitated and reconstructed as part of the plan to deal with the whole issue of climate change. Jagdeo disclosed that yesterday he met with several agencies and discussed the significant role that mangroves will play in protecting the country’s sea defences. The President revealed that the government plans to invest massively in pursuing this option.
“We are working towards spending, sometime next year, close to a billion dollars on developing a programme”, Jagdeo said. “First of all of assessment of our coastline, to find out which areas are best suited and what soil types are best suited to the different varieties of mangroves, to bring in a series of specialists who have already successfully deployed planted mangrove, to develop a large scale nursery for the plants, the mangrove plants and to deploy them right across our coast line”, he added.
Jagdeo said that such a move was vital especially given recent estimates produced by the McKinsey Company which says that to properly address the issue of climate change on the country’s coast, will cost in excess of US$1 billion. He said that this is a real challenge, especially if the resources that the country is hoping to receive through the sale of forest carbon do not materialize to the magnitude as expected. The President said that the country would have to fund adaptation measures from the budget.
“There is no other alternative, we can’t give up our coast, we can’t give up the fertile lands here and the housing stock which are so valuable. So we’d have to choose to defend them, this housing stock and…. our people’s livelihood against the sea and against variable, unpredictable, extreme weather conditions.”
Jagdeo stated that a massive challenge exists over the next five to ten years even as the government pursues other important developmental issues such as education, healthcare and housing.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud pointed out that while the pump will not eliminate flash flooding in the city, it would greatly boost the capacity of the city to address the problem. Persaud noted that while legally the NDIA is tasked with providing drainage and irrigation to farming and agricultural communities it would not neglect Georgetown since it was the capital city and the centre of commercial activity. He, however, emphasized that the work undertaken by the NDIA in the city does not result in the diverting of resources from the agricultural communities. Persaud stated that the body had invested heavily in rehabilitating and expanding drainage and irrigation structures in the country.
He disclosed that shortly, under a programme sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Ministry will be expending $250m to rehabilitate pumps and pump stations at Golden Grove, Victoria and Cane Grove.
Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green thanked the NDIA for rehabilitating the pumps even as he underscored the importance of the pump to the city. He, however, said that other issues remained such as an unreliable power supply which needed to be addressed if the pumps were to function effectively.
