Dear Editor,
I saw in all the print media that the opposition leader was lecturing the two-year-old coalition government about bringing immediate relief to those who were affected by the flood in Georgetown and elsewhere in the country in order to minimize losses and damage to property, livestock and agricultural crops. He is behaving as though there were no floods during his tenure or during the PPP/C’s 23 years in government, and he should realize that this new government has had remarkable achievements in its short time in office in the face of inheriting an economy and infrastructure in a poor state. As soon as the coalition assumed office, it started to clear millions of tons of garbage which had piled up under the previous administration, and by clearing canals and trenches which were clogged up for decades.
Its commitment to principles and devotion to the working people and businesses helped it to survive two floods since 2015, which could have been far more disastrous to property, livestock and agricultural crops, as happened in 2005 under Mr Jagdeo. All the villages and rice cultivation areas that he mentioned in Region Two and other parts of the country were flooded at times in the course the past 23 years, and farmers lost cash crops, rice crops and livestock, while properties were damaged and businesses lost millions of dollars in stock without any compensation from his government. The administration never improved the systems after the 2005 flooding, and after that the floodwaters deposited sediment, slowly building up drift mud along the sea coast which was never removed. The mouth of the Pomeroon river and other parts of the country were silted up, causing the water to take a long time to recede.
Of course every practical government knows that good drainage is paramount to survival. Along the coast there were magnificent drainage canals 50 feet wide in colonial times; these ran straight from the main conservancy canal out to the very margin of the sea; at the end of them were caisson sluices which may be removed without trouble, but these were destroyed. In front of the sluices blocks of stone were thrown down rip rap to combat the flooding; all these have disappeared.
Hampton Court estate which is owned by Sattie Ramnauth went through unspeakable times with flooding for decades because of the failure to correct some minor drainage and irrigation problems by the past administration. A blind eye was turned to her complaints that the residents had blocked up the drainage trench in front of their entrances without placing any kokers there. This caused her estate, playground and airstrip to be under water every time it rained heavily. According to her she was always given excuses that the backhoe and drain digger were out of order and there was no long-boom hymac available in the region to handle the canals and trenches. She then sought the help of REO Rupert Hopkinson, and was able to get help to clear the drainage canals which had been clogged up for years.
During the Tapakuma Irrigation Scheme Phase Two Project under the Burnham and Hoyte governments, several large caterpillar pumps were placed at Anna Regina, Lima, Hampton Court and Somerset and Berks by the British contracting firm Reed and Mallik, to alleviate flooding. When the PPP took office in 1992, all these big pumps were removed from the region and replaced with smaller ones which do not have the capacity to reduce flooding. Many sea defence kokers which had been built by the Dutch and British were condemned, and these sluices had more capacity to discharge water into the sea during the outfall tide. Our country will continually draw attention to the heavy capital investment in drainage, sea defences and irrigation because of the mistake of shutting down the sea defence sluices.
The scheme was so designed within the township of Anna Regina to Walton Hall, that almost every village had a sluice to take care of the excessive overtopping water release from the main conservancy canal.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan