Minister of Water Irfaan Ali today condemned the recent destruction of pipelines by miners operating along the road towards the Salbora Creek, Mahdia.
In a statement issued by the Guyana Water Inc, he said “This is the second incident of this nature and I strongly condemn the actions by these miners…due to their activities in the area they have destroyed GWI’s pipelines causing tremendous damage and compromising the quality of service we provide to the community of Mahdia.”
Ali said that the action by the miners caused the destruction of a significant section of pipeline serving the Mahdia community. He warned that the ruined lines would cause unwanted materials to enter the distribution system thereby endangering the health of Mahdia residents.
“These miners have no regard for safety and for the well-being of the community,” stated Minister Ali, according to the GWI release “open pipelines have disastrous results for the health of those served by the system.”
He added that “the damaged section of pipeline resulted in a reduction of pressure which severely affected the lives of the residents since less water was available for every day activities. What angers me is that this has happened before and the miners were warned of the consequences.”
The Minister said that he will bring the matter to the attention of relevant authorities and hopes that severe action will be taken against the offenders.
In October 2008 miners wrought havoc in the area, dredging up sections of the Salbora road.
In August the previous year, several sections of the same road were also damaged by mining activity which forced the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to charge the guilty miners with damage to property, seize their equipment and institute a five-year ban on them.
But the commission’s action has apparently not deterred those insistent on dredging in the area.
The 2008 incident also affected water supply to residents, though Mahdia businessman Roger Hinds took it upon himself to stand the expense for repairs, bringing some relief to the residents with the region’s permission.
In an advertisement published in January 2008, the GGMC identified the miners responsible for the earlier damage to Salbora road and pipelines. The damaged pipelines constituted the distribution system of the $50M Salbora Water Project. In addition to the pipelines which supplied potable water to surrounding communities with about 1,200 people, the gold and diamond miners also destroyed several stretches of the Mahdia road.
The GGMC Commissioner William Woolford said at the time that the Commission was also looking to recover the cost of the road from the miners, who were to appear in court. Nothing was ever heard from the commission as to whether the men had actually appeared in court and contributed to the repairs of the road. However, this newspaper was told that GGMC had given an undisclosed sum of money to the Guyana Water Incorporated to effect repairs to the ruptured Salbora water system.
