The Ministry of Agricul-ture, through the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), is implementing new measures to address some challenges faced during the rainy season. Among these is a programme of active surveillance by specially appointed officers to monitor Drainage and Irrigation (D&I) structures, and equipment and machinery.
A release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said that during a recent interview, Minister of Agriculture Dr Leslie Ramsammy also confirmed that as the country prepared for the rainy season, all primary D&I structures, which are under
the purview of the NDIA, were functioning.
“I would want to think that should we have above normal rainfall in the upcoming rainy season that we should be a very good position to response to any threat of flooding,” Ramsammy said.
He, however warned that the country will experience flash floods, particularly if there is above normal rainfall in any 24-hour period.
“If we have 30 to 50millimeters of rain in a 24- hour period, the structures may not be enough to remove all the water quickly, particularly depending on tide levels,” he warned.
The minister disclosed that one of the difficulties that the ministry had encountered in the past was that often, pump stations ran out of fuel. He said that at present there was an officer at the NDIA, whose job is to ensure that supplies are up to date for the pump stations.
“This is all that this person will do. This person [is]… in touch with all the regions; the Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs) and with those who are operating the pump stations, so that we know they have at least 48 hours of supply at any time… since checks are being done on a daily basis, if we working on a 48 hours supply at all times, it means we should never run out,” he pointed out.
The release said the ministry had also appointed officers to exclusively monitor all the ministry’s excavators and bulldozers. The officers’ duties are to ensure there were adequate amounts of fuel and lubricants for the machines, and that they are repaired in a timely manner.
“They are going to ensure that they are daily checking these things, because in the past we would discover that excavators and bulldozers have been sitting for several days because of a part missing or because of supplies,” Ramsammy said.
He also said that a designated officer will now maintain daily contacts with regional officials to garner reports on the conditions of the secondary and tertiary drains that fall under the local officers’ charge.
According to the release, the NDIA will be increasing and accelerating outfall dredging in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, and as well ensuring that all pumps are ready for continuous operation.
The minister said that over the next several weeks, the NDIA will be deploying a minimum of 20 mini-excavators into various communities to help with maintenance of secondary and tertiary structures. He said too that several of the 57 excavators that the NDIA has been using to maintain primary structures are also being deployed to help with the secondary structures.
Ramsammy stated that all pumps are functional, except for two that the NDIA was currently rehabilitating at Charity, Region Two and at Lusignan, Region Four. The NDIA is also working to install a new mobile pump to supplement the current existing capacity at the pump station at Lusignan.
