A $55M well and pumping station was yesterday commissioned at Somerset on the Essequibo Coast and Water Minister Irfaan Ali praised the performance of GWI.
Commissioning the facility, Ali told those gathered that the government has expended more than $765M within the last three years on such facilities.
According to the Government Information Agency, Ali cautioned however that “Sustaining the water sector requires financial input,” and that citizens must take the responsibility of paying for water seriously.
Ali added that “one of the major challenges in the water sector has been non-payment for the commodity”.
He praised the Guyana Water Inc for an “excellent” job done in the last year, noting the project implementation rate of the Ministry has increased to the point where the capital works programme has been completed well before the windup of the year.
Pointing to GWI’s improved capacity, Ali said that almost all of the wells that were commissioned were designed and supervised by GWI’s engineers. The result, the Minister said is money saved and opportunities to extend the same services to more communities.
Earlier in the year, GINA said that President Bharrat Jagdeo had committed to measuring the progress in the sector by a colour-coded process, with blue being the standard of excellence. Almost the entire Essequibo coast has achieved the blue standard, the Minister said, noting that the only area that presents a challenge is Charity. The water treatment network for that area should be completed early next year.
