Funds, amounting to some $460 million, have been approved by the Ministry of Finance for use on emergency works to secure vulnerable areas within a 3-kilometre stretch of shoreline between Fairfield and Dantzig, Mahaicony, according to Chief Sea and River Defence Officer Kevin Samad.
Samad has also told Stabroek News that additional resources have been mobilised by contractor A&S General Contractors Inc., which is undertaking works at vulnerable areas of the coast after repaired sea defences were breached again by high tides over the weekend.
Over the course of last Friday and Saturday, spring tides washed away a large section of the recently repaired Prospect, Mahaicony sea defences. An estimated 400 metres were destroyed, leaving acres of farmlands under threat from possible flooding.
Samad said within the next few days, they should be able to completely fill the gap that collapsed over the weekend. “This is at the Prospect area. The one that was breached in July – Dantzig – has been sealed and withstood that spring tide. There is about two and a half kilometres between those two areas,” he said.
Samad explained that works were being done at Prospect prior to the breach over the weekend but after the situation developed at Dantzig and Columbia last month, the contractor was forced to divert focus to those areas.
“The section that collapsed at Prospect now was an area [where] we had done some emergency works but did not have a chance to put the boulders in front of the sea dam,” he said.
He noted the release of the emergency funding and said that the first thing they will do with the money is try to procure additional boulders.
Samad said good weather is anticipated for the month and if the assumption is correct, they will be able to transport additional resources via land. Because of the weather and state of the access road, he noted, they have had to transport 7,500 tonnes of boulders by water. “This is an unprecedented situation where we have to barge materials in. It’s risky but we didn’t have a choice. We managed to get about three barges in per week,” he said.
According to him, there has been rapid erosion ongoing along the 3-kilometre shoreline between Fairfield and Dantzig. He explained that the region has always been protected by natural defences, such as mud buffers and mangroves, but because of the constant erosion the earth embankment has been left exposed. “This has been accelerated during the last couple of spring tides and because of the bad weather, which has been a big factor. The shortest access from the public road to the sea dam is also 2 kilometres and there’s only one access at Fairfield. We have, however, managed to construct another bridge not too far from there,” he added.
A Ministry of Public Infrastructure press release yesterday noted that a 90 feet long heavy-duty timber bridge was recently completed at Dantzig across the Bellamy Canal since the only other access bridge across the Bellamy Canal is approximately 3 kilometres away at Fairfield.
Despite the raging tides pulling away the sea defence, Samad pointed out that there has been no reports of flooding in the area or in any of the agriculture lands.
The Ministry of Public Infrastructure press release explained that there was no flooding of nearby agricultural lands since the Bellamy Canal Sluice at the Mahaica River was operated during low tide to release excess water stored in the canal.
Stabroek News visited the affected areas on Monday morning and spoke to several farmers. They related that so far they had not had to contend with any flooding but noted that they were being vigilant as they feared the situation could change at any moment.
Farmers noted that they are extremely concerned about the areas closer to the sea dam, where cattle was grazing and there is a large amount of rice lands.
Samad highlighted that since the breach in July, works have been undertaken to secure the integrity of the drainage and irrigation canals, which extend to the rice fields and pasture lands.
“Most of the areas were rescued with the empoldering and works will be continued because that was phase one. The permanent work should start within another week. There is Phase Two that has for another 350 metres within the same area [between Prospect and Broomhall]. The tenders were opened on July 9th and we are hoping to have the approval before the end of the week,” he said.
The ministry said A & S General Contractors Inc was awarded a contract to construct 325 metres of permanent rock revetment structure at the Prospect area at a cost of $160 million in order to supplement previous emergency interventions along the Prospect area during the months of March and April.
