The sea dam at Salem, East Bank Essequibo is rapidly eroding and residents fear that it will soon break away and destroy their properties unless the authorities act quickly.
Stabroek News visited the area yesterday and observed two sections of the dam breaking away and posing a threat to the residents whose lands it is shielding. There was also a wall that acts as a water shield that is also eroding and it looks as if it will collapse at anytime.
Contacted yesterday, Kevin Samad, acting Chief Hydraulic Officer, said the bids for rehabilitation works on the sea defences in place at Salem are now being assessed.
“We are currently reviewing the bids and [are] expected to submit our assessments to the tender board, and we expect the contract to be awarded within the next two weeks,” Samad stated.
He added that there is a maintenance crew at Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara, which normally repairs breaches and does overall maintenance works as regards the sea defence systems on that part of the coast.
“Tomorrow [today], I will instruct our maintenance crew over there to go and assess the damages and put temporary measures in place until the contract is awarded,” he added.
The last time major work was done on the dam was in May, 2009 and it began eroding sometime the next year, according to residents. A resident, who asked not to be named, told this newspaper that for the past three years he has been pushing to have more sturdy sea defence mechanisms in place for Salem residents but every time his proposals have been shunned by authorities.
“When them come fuh build this thing, me tell them that use the concrete instead of the mud but them ask me if me study engineer,” he said. The visibly upset man added that had they listened to him and made adjustments to their plans, they would not have to do the same work again.
“They just wasting the taxpayers’ money, if them been listen them wouldn’t have to do am again but them ears hard. Them just want bring lil hard mud and then tek lil wet mud and dab it and expect am nah fun bruk,” he lamented.
He added that whenever the tide is high, the water is usually at the top of the dam waiting to overtop it but as far as he could remember there was no major flooding in the Salem area as a result of breached sea defences. He opined that the reason they do not experience major flooding is as a result of their “powerful koker”.
Meanwhile, another resident stated that there were remedial works completed on the same breaches some two months ago but that exercise served no purpose since the dam kept eroding more rapidly. He stated that approximately twelve men took two months to erect a concrete structure not more than six feet in length.
“It tek them two month fuh do this here and them only had to full up the base with sandbags and then concrete it, but that thing nah mek sense because it ah crack up already,” he noted.
The man said that he is positive the dam will collapse before the authorities look into it, since it has been eroded for over two years. He added that there are several bags of sand just dumped on the dam and left there, which he dubbed a waste of money.
“This trench neva clean awe does got fuh clean at the back by awe and the rest is share bush, nuff time it does got alligator and snake on the dam,” he added, in reference to a trench below the dam.