A new housing development at Sparendaam, dubbed Pradoville 2, has attracted concerns over its proximity to sea defences but Minister of Housing, Irfaan Ali says that, generally speaking, whatever construction is done, engineers ensure that “everything is taken into consideration”.
Ali said that all constructions by the ministry are built to “strict engineering specification” and quizzed on whether the Ministry had inspected the Sparendaam development; he responded tersely that “the ministry must inspect it…” The new East Coast housing development, where several government officials are reported to be building their homes, is on grounds where NCN’s radio transmitter was once cited. The transmitter has been relocated to the West Bank Demerara.
A member of the public, in a letter, which appeared in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek, said that the writer was recently “alarmed” by “the upsurge of rapid and expensive construction activities” in the vicinity of the East Coast seawall in the Sparendaam area. While expressing confidence that the owners and contractors for these properties would have obtained these lands legally and would be rigidly following all the building rules and guidelines, the writer said that “my alarm and concern is that these property owners are completely dismissive of the strong and well-argued points made by President Bharrat Jagdeo and his Cabinet members regarding the effects of climate change, and in particular the increasing risks it poses to property from the sea-level rise”.
“These properties seem to be dangerously close to the sea defence and drainage reserves, and without exception the owners seem to believe that they can apply unique construction techniques to their individual properties to deal with the sea-level rise. There seems to be little regard for the surrounding nearby residents who have few resources to apply any adaptation measures. It is as if those with the resources are thumbing their noses at their neighbours, behaving with a selfishness and self-centredness unbecoming of Guyanese who believe in a common destiny”, the resident wrote.
Noting that Jagdeo, led the launch of the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), which is trying to attract investments and provide resources for mitigation and adaptation to the effects of climate change, the writer said that “those that clearly have access to resources who insist on continuing to build in close proximity to the seawall, demonstrate how much effort the government and all other like-minded people have to exert to change behaviour and ensure that we are all aligned to the same important message – that is, as a people we need to take measures to reduce risk and make ourselves more resilient to the effects of climate change”.
During a visit to the area by this newspaper yesterday, a few other residents echoed similar points. “Them a seh the sea level a rise and they building here”, observed one resident.
