The much-vaunted Hope Canal on the East Coast is still to undergo trials to test the functionality of the $3.6 billion drainage project although Head of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, Lionel Wordsworth has stated the project is in its final stages.
The Canal was one of the major projects of the 2006 Jagdeo administration in the aftermath of the 2005 Great Flood. However it has encountered severe delays and the life the 2011 Ramotar administration expired without it being commissioned.
Wordsworth told Stabroek News that instead of utilizing the Hope Canal’s eight-door sluice, the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) will relieve any excess water through the Land of Canaan outlet on the East Bank of Demerara.
He stated that while the recent heavy rains have had an impact on the water level in the conservancy there was currently no reason for concern.
Wordsworth noted that since the Conservancy was not at the full supply level, the high-level discharge flow that would be provided by the Hope Canal was not necessary. He note that should the Conservancy reach the full supply level the Canal will be utilized.
This newspaper enquired as to why the Canal is yet to be tested to which Wordsworth stated that the eight doors were being opened and closed to ensure that they were in proper mechanical order. He also noted that currently there was ongoing work to prevent erosion of the area.
The controversial project began under the administration of former president Bharrat Jagdeo and continued under President Donald Ramotar. Conceived following the Great Flood of 2005, the Hope Canal project will drain water from the EDWC into the Atlantic Ocean, thereby eliminating the flooding of the Mahaica Creek and its environs.
The Hope Canal project has missed many deadlines stemming from being unable to complete the original 18-month contract when the project commenced in February 2011. The time frame was extended from June 2013 to August, then to December, then to June 2014, then to September and again to December. In January of this year, former Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon blamed cost overruns for the latest missed December 31st, 2014 deadline for the completion of the project. In January, Luncheon had said that most of the work was completed however at that time the eight-door sluice was still to be completed.
Since the last missed deadline no new date was given for the completion of the project.
Engineer Charles Sohan, in a letter to Stabroek News, had said that based on aerial photos of the project, taken in early December 2014, a “tremendous amount of work” is yet to be done to make Hope Canal operational. Sohan had noted that the project is far from completion and unlikely to be fully operational for another year or so before flood waters could be safely released from the EDWC into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Hope Canal Project has four components: the Northern Relief channel, which will be 10.3km in length from the sea defence embankment and extending to the EDWC; a high level outfall sluice; a conservancy head regulator; and a public bridge.
