Farmers and residents of Hope Dochfour were updated on developments taking place at the Hope Canal when Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud held a meeting with them on Wednesday regarding the implementation of the Northern Relief Channel.
The channel which is being constructed at the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) will encounter some amount of disruption to the livelihood of farmers and residents in the area, and so the meeting was held to discuss the way forward, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
According to GINA, Minister Persaud said that while the earthen works will be conducted by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA); 12 excavators have already been procured to be used on the project and $750M has been allocated to carry out this phase of work. The work will be advertised shortly.
The interactive session was held at the Hope Secondary School, East Coast Demerara, and among the officials participating were Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture Dr. Dindyal Permaul; Chief Executive Officer, NDIA, Lionel Wordsworth; Director of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), Dr. Oudho Homenauth; Senior Civil Engineer, Ministry of Agriculture Fredrick Flatts and CEMCO’s Engineer Sheik Yusuf.
“We wanted to inform you as it relates to the status of the works so that when we proceed there will be a smooth implementation of the project. We have already commenced work from the conservancy coming out and so far it has been fruitful,” Persaud is quoted as telling the farmers and residents.
The agriculture minister said further that the project will enable Guyana to significantly adapt to climate change and the government spent over $400M to purchase equipment last year. “We need to manage flood conditions so as to reduce vulnerabilities,” he added.
Acknowledging that more is needed to mitigate flooding, Persaud called on the farmers to take a proactive role and monitor projects being expedited in their communities.
Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary Dr. Permaul stated that the development of the channel has a national significance and over a two-year period of consultations over $100M in compensation has been paid to affected farmers and residents in the area.
The consultation which was conducted by the Lands and Survey Commission saw farmers being compensated for properties, land and cash crops, GINA stated.
The consultancy works for the design of the structure was awarded to CEMCO Engineering Ltd. The 30-meter wide channel will be approximately 10.3 kilometers long.
Over the years, Government has been constructing, reconstructing and rehabilitating numerous drainage and irrigation structures across the country to ensure that farmlands have necessary conditions for cultivation and the Hope/Dochfour canal is one such, GINA added.
