Dear Editor,
For over 20 years the spring tide has been besieging the residents of Cornelia Ida and Anna Catherina Sea-View on the West Coast of Demerara. I used every opportunity to highlight this plight to government and political officials but to no avail. I remember penning a letter warning the PPP/C administration of losing votes for failing to remedy this regular disaster.
The regional chairman (Mr. Faerber) and an engineer from the Ministry of Public Works subsequently visited us sometime after the flood in November 2013. It was well established that we have a water outflow problem (see photo).
The eastern water flow was blocked by Mr. Feroze Khan (deceased) and the main middle outlet culvert (2 feet box) was too small to handle the volume of the sea overtopping from the two villages. The Regional Chairman and the engineer promised they would dig out the middle culvert and replace it with a 12 feet bridge in the short term. This project was estimated to cost about 2.5 million dollars.
In January 2014, the RDC installed a 4 feet tube instead of the bridge. It was alleged that this tube installation cost about 3 million dollars. High tide came soon after and washed away the dirt around the tube. Cornelia Ida and Anna Catherina were still devastated by the flood. A truck subsequently ran over the tube and it collapsed.
Another tube was installed. This time a 3 feet tube. Another 3 million again was involved. My God! If a 4 feet tube didn’t work, would a 3 feet do any better? Last week another contractor was sent to do some revetment work around the 3 feet tube. Again I was told another 3 million was involved.
Come next month when another spring tide is expected, Cornelia Ida and Anna Catherina, Sea- View will once again be under water.
This is how taxpayers’ money has been spent and the suffering they have to endure. The people have voted solidly for a change. We are patiently waiting to see what difference our vote will bring.
Yours faithfully
C. Woolford
