The East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) has never been as “well maintained” as it is presently, according to Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who has credited ongoing works being done with the support from the Japanese government.
“This conservancy has never been in the condition it is in right now… it is well maintained and we are very proud of the works being done here with the support from the Japanese Government, the IDB and the World Bank,” Ramsammy said last Friday, during a tour of the EDWC with a team including Japan’s Vice Foreign Affairs Minister Takashi Uto and other Japanese officials, along with CEO of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Lionel Wordsworth. The objective of the tour was to allow the visiting Japanese delegation to observe climate change adaptation and mitigation measures that Guyana is undertaking.
Ramsammy noted that the conservancy is an important irrigation source for all the villages along the East Coast and East Bank.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) report, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is funding the Guyana Conservancy Adaptation project, which will aid in better management and operation of the conservancy.
The project is being conducted in two phases. During the first phase, eight excavators and two pontoons were procured, while in the second, US$3.8 million was provided for the rehabilitation of six structures within the EDWC. These works will complement government’s US$15M Hope Canal project.
Ramsammy said the equipment is currently being used in maintenance works in the conservancy to safeguard the 45-mile long dam and all its inlets and outlets. He also noted that under the Guyana Conservancy Adaptation project, four pump stations will be constructed along the East Coast this year, the report noted.
Meanwhile, during a visit to the Northern Relief Channel at Hope, the minister was reported as saying that the doors of the head regulator—a sluice system that allows water from the conservancy to enter into the relief channel—have been completed and the next step, breaking the dam, will be done in about two weeks.
The dam is currently being reinforced at both ends, he added. “We want to make sure that the water level in our conservancy doesn’t go below 53 GD [Georgetown Datum]which is our dead space, because if it does so, the dam integrity is affected, and we want to make sure that is doesn’t get above 57, because if it does, the dam will be compromised with overtopping,” he explained.
GINA said Guyana’s ability to implement adaptation measures to deal with climate change were applauded by Minister Uto.
