Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday called for government to do more to help the people of Region 5 who have been hard-hit by flooding.
According to Jagdeo the government is presently engaging in “token visits” which do not suggest a commitment to being on the ground so as to gain an understanding of the situation being faced.
“People in those areas badly need help and these token visits do not leave me in a hopeful mood that they are serious about going on the ground to offer assistance to the people who badly need assistance. This government needs to be more committed and balanced in their outreach. Region 5 has lots of different people and they need to be going to all the areas in Region 5,” Jagdeo said.
He said that the Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal had written the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), the Mahaica, Mahaicony, Abary-Agricultural Development Authority (MMA-ADA) and the central government several letters on the problems being faced by the residents.
According to Jagdeo most of these letters are still to be acknowledged even as the regional council is impeded by the APNU+AFC councillors.
“Despite the difficulties he faced the regional chair has been visiting several coastal areas and Moraikobai which are heavily affected by flooding. People in those areas badly need help and if the region was functioning we would’ve had greater outreach possibly with both the PPP/C councillors and the APNU+AFC councillors instead the APNU councillors have disrupted every meeting this year,” Jagdeo said.
Stabroek News had in May reported the regional chairman as saying that despite the need for emergency responses, the regional administration is not meeting due to a continuing protest by APNU+AFC councillors who want him to publicly apologise over a perceived slight to President David Granger.
“We cannot meet at the council level to make solid decisions on emergency work and other works that needs to be done so as to bring relief to the people,” he stated, while adding that there are also other issues that need to be dealt with immediately or the region will suffer tremendously,” Ramphal had said.
The council met on Thursday but APNU+AFC members were not present.
On Thursday, Jagdeo who held the post of president for 12 years was asked what infrastructural measures were put in place during his tenure to alleviate what is a longstanding flooding problem.
In response he espoused the virtues of the $3.6B Hope Canal on the East Coast which is meant to drain the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) when it reaches dangerous levels.
“The Hope canal that I was maligned for is one of those infrastructural works. First they said it was a corrupt project, secondly it was technically unsound and thirdly it was a white elephant now it is being used as solution to the flooding in Region 5,” Jagdeo said.
He explained that the Hope Canal is a long term solution for changing weather patterns since the storage capacity of the EDWC had become a problem.
“Releasing conservancy water into the Mahaica creek had in the past compounded the problem with the high river making flooding in those areas worse,” Jagdeo explained that the minimal flooding presently being experienced in Mahaica is a direct result of this measure.
“They do have some water in the fields where someone lost 105 acres but most of Mahaica is unscathed. Without the (Hope) canal water would’ve been higher. I’ve been there waist deep in water, it is not so today,” he said.
He also said that during his tenure the government had sent in machines and started building the river walls even as they built the branch roads in Mahaica/Mahaicony.
“Those branch roads were earthen dams now they are asphalted roads you can drive through. We even gave each family the use of a machine for 2 days to empolder their lands and drains. We also did several canals out to the Atlantic and put in several pumps,” Jagdeo said declaring that he was “really pleased” with the efforts made by his government in these areas even as he acknowledged that those efforts couldn’t stop the flooding.
Experts have said that Mahaica and Mahaicony are without adequate drainage infrastructure and flooding will remain a major risk. Mahaica and Mahaicony were originally supposed to be protected via phases 2 and three of the MMA Scheme but this project has been on hold for decades.
