Two drainage pump stations were commissioned in Region Six on Monday, one at Gangaram and the other at Joppa, No 43 Village, Corentyne.
GINA said that the pump station at Gangaram saw government expending $310M on it. This figure includes construction works along with consultancy supervision for the project. The station at Joppa was completed in the amount of $277M. GINA said that both projects were executed by contracting firm Roopan Ramotar Investments and were completed ahead of the deadlines.
The commissioning of the stations was attended by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, and Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder.
GINA said that the pump stations have the capacity to drain 200 cubic feet of water per second which translates into 90,000 gallons of water per minute.
David Madramootoo of Reliance Settlement was reported by GINA as saying that it was a red letter day for the Canefield Neighbourhood Democ-ratic Council (NDC).
“When there is high tide and you have water from the cane fields coming you do have flood…the residents only depend on the NDC to clear their drains…this pump will be of tremendous help to us, benefitting the entire economy of East Canje, Rose Hall Estate, sugar, rice, cattle farmers, cash crop farmers…it’s a boost,” Madramootoo said.
He however cautioned residents to properly dispose of their solid waste.
Prime Minister Nagamootoo said that the commissioning was linked to a larger dream of draining and irrigating thousands of acres of land countrywide.
“When we came into government we got baptised, not once but twice…and we said no more…since then monumental work was done on the drainage and irrigation network in the city which will be replicated in other parts of the country…so that when it rains the city would not experience the flood,” the Prime Minister stated.
Holder stated that agriculture accounts for more than 33% of total employment and 20% of the Gross Domestic Product.
“There has been increasing investments in agriculture… Support to small farmers and other domestic investors, has increased production and created wealth for small holders and rural communities. ..This strategy is crucial to poverty alleviation and wealth creation,” Holder was reported as saying.
He said that water management is a critical area of focus for the Ministry of Agriculture since almost all agriculture is practised in the low lying regions of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
“Because of these reasons, the Ministry of Agriculture, and particularly the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) concentrate on best practices in the drainage and irrigation sector. In 2015, NDIA received $1.6Billion to manage, provide, improve and extend agricultural water resource capacity. This is one of the largest shares of the Ministry’s budget in recent past and it is still inadequate,” Holder was quoted as saying.
He noted that Region Six was also allocated $ 170 million for the maintenance of D&I works, which is a 14% hike from 2014.
David Armogan, Regional Chairman for Region Six said that the commissioning of the two pumps constitutes a timely intervention.
