Dear Editor,

I refer to a letter in SN dated March 11 by C. Sohan who queried why the NDIA had not been maintaining the coastal Drainage and Irrigation system in the present dry season in order to prevent flooding in the coming rainy season (‘Work on the coastal drainage system needs to be undertaken urgently in order to prevent flooding in the rainy season’).

I would also like to query whatever happened to the US$42M loan disbursed to the government a few years ago by the IDB to maintain and upgrade the pumping stations, drainage canals and drainage structures for the nine declared D&I areas along the coast of Guyana.

Over US$2M in engineering fees were paid to the consultants Mott MacDonald/Cemco to prepare the contract documents for the project. The contract was tendered about four years ago and the low bid came in about US$6M above the estimate. Since then the extent of the work was later reduced and again re-advertised on two separate occasions with the last being for about US$12M, some US$30M below the original loan.

There have been no reports of any contract being awarded or works carried out on the maintenance of the D&I systems and from enquiries I was made to understand that most of the loan monies were used up at the EDWC.

Perhaps the above answers Mr Sohan’s concerns why maintenance works were not carried out during the present dry season – there is perhaps no money. This also would explain why after a little rainfall with the country flooded out the officials blame global warming and excessive rainfall. Under the circumstances it would be appreciated if officials of the NDIA and/or perhaps the Auditor General can comment on the above.

It would also appear that the official opposition in Parliament has been sleeping on the job.

Yours faithfully,
M. Alli

Editor’s note: A copy of this letter was sent to the NDIA for comment. A reply was received but it was mistakenly carried in yesterday’s edition without being appended to the original letter. We reprint hereunder the reply from the NDIA to Mr Alli’s letter.

Thank you for inviting the Ministry of Agriculture to respond to Mr. M.Alli’s letter which used Mr. C. Sohan’s letter of March 11, 2010 as a springboard.

First, it is erroneous to state that the NDIA has not been working on the Drainage and Irrigation (D & I) systems during the current dry season to prevent flooding in the coming rainy season. In fact the NDIA has been working assiduously throughout the present dry season to improve both irrigation and drainage in coastal and other areas. However, we wish to state that because of the current “El Nino” phenomenon, we have emphasized the supply of water to farmers, in an effort to minimize or eradicate the loss of their crop.

As the values of the loans quoted by Mr. Alli do not correspond with our records, we hereby state the facts. In 2004, the Government of Guyana received a US$25M IDB loan under the  gricultural Support Services Programme (ASSP) to execute a number of activities including the rehabilitation of the drainage and irrigation systems in nine Drainage and Irrigation areas. This loan was restructured and reduced to US$20M in 2007 with an allocation of US$10.5 M for drainage and irrigation works.

In April 2009, the Ministry of Agriculture signed four contracts totaling $1.2 Billion for the Rehabilitation of D & I structures in the following areas:

*  Vergenoegen/Bonasika and Den Amstel/      Fellowship

*  Vreed-en-Hoop/La Jalousie

*  Golden Grove/Victoria and

*  Crabwood Creek

Similarly, under the IDB US$22 M Agricultural Export Diversification Programme (ADP), a contract valued $390 M was awarded in August 2009 for the rehabilitation of the D & I structures in the Canals Polder area. The progress of works in the six areas stated above varies from 45% to 80%. The earthworks (excavation of primary and secondary drains and canals) in These six areas are being executed by he NDIA as the counterpart contribution at a significant saving to the government. To date the overall