Dear Editor,
In an SN letter of Dec 29, writer Edward Gonsalves expressed the view that former President Bharrat Jagdeo and now Leader of the Opposition has acquired a deep understanding of the problems facing Guyana due to the rise in sea level and accompanying drainage problems. Therefore the knowledge and experience he has accumulated during his administration should be made available to the APNU+AFC government to alleviate the negative impacts climate change/sea level rise will have on Guyana’s drainage and sea defence (DSD) systems in the coming years.
Unfortunately Mr Jagdeo’s contribution during his PPP/C presidency to the strategic planning and development of Guyana’s DSD systems was one of neglect, as was evident from the poor condition of the DSD infrastructures which were passed on to the APNU+AFC government and which has since had to enlist the help of experts of one kind and another to assist them to get the systems operational to satisfy their minimum functional requirements.
The fundamental problems hindering Guyana’s development of its DSD systems to meet the challenges of sea level rise/climate change are lack of resources (financial, technical, managerial, etc). During the PPP/C government, the European Union financed much of the work on sea defence and the Hope Canal Project to relieve flood water from the East Demerara Conservancy was financed largely from Venezuela’s PetroCaribe fund, while coastal drainage pumps were purchased from a government of India loan. Grants and loans urgently needed to finance needed improvement and development works on DSD projects will be hard to access from external sources in the foreseeable future, and therefore Guyana will have to provide its own resources to fund needed upgrading and the development of DSD works. Can it do so, given the many competing subsidies being demanded by various sectors of its economy that are failing to generate surplus revenues?
Apart from sea level rise and loss of gravity drainage time through the sluices for the lowlands, another major problem facing the sea defence is subsidence of its earth dams which will adversely affect flood water discharges through the sluices. The sea defence will have to be built/strenghtened/repaired at locations where these works are most needed to have the greatest impact protecting the people and the country’s economy, and not just to save few coconut farms and isolated settlements at the mouth of the Pomeroom River and elsewhere. After all, sea defence protection and adequate drainage of Guyana’s lowlands do not come cheap and investment in them will have to be selectively chosen for the optimum benefit of all.
Yours faithfully,
Charles Sohan
