As the Ministry of Public Infrastructure awaits funding to execute emergency works on the Content, Mahaicony sea defence, it is looking to deploy a contractor to undertake short-term works at the site.
Jermaine Braithwaite, Project Manager attached to the Public Infrastructure Ministry’s Sea and River Defence Department yesterday told Stabroek News that both ministries remain engaged in discussion over funding for the project.
He added that they should be able to have some positive word on funding in the new week.
According to Braithwaite, once the contractor is deployed to site, they will immediately begin temporary rehabilitation to strengthen the sea defence which has been rapidly eroding and so prevent further damage.
He added that in the work plan they have decided to construct an additional two kilometers of sea defence along the vulnerable Content sea defence. In addition to this, Braithwaite explained that they are discussing with the Ministry of Finance what sections contractors will undertake once funding for the project has been approved.
On Thursday, this newspaper reported that the residents of Dantzig and Columbia villages in Mahaicony were becoming increasingly alarmed as the sea defences in the area erode more and more every day.
Residents had raised concerns over the fact that contractor, BK International, who was tasked with executing works between Dantzig and Fairfield, the first portion of the sea defence that was broken away by waves from the Atlantic, was removing his equipment and workers camps from the site.
BK has completed the portion of work it was contracted to undertake between Dantzig and Fairfield.
During a visit to the eroding area, Stabroek News observed workers from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) attempting to build a second temporary dam as the primary temporary dam has begun to erode due to the daily assault of the Atlantic Ocean.
An official of the NDIA who was on site noted that not much more can be done by the NDIA as the this vulnerable portion puts many farmers and residents at risk even as they are trying to recover from the invasion of saltwater from the last flood in November, last year.
The mangrove fringe and other natural sea defences that were in place have been washed away leaving just a narrow dam, which is now exposed and rapidly eroding. At daily high tides, water from the Atlantic Ocean could be seen spilling over the earthen dam.
New breaches develop easily, he said, before explaining that as one area is fixed, the water diverts and undermines other weak sections of the defence, thereby exposing it to rapid erosion.
Farmers suffered tremendous losses from the flooding late last year after the sea defence broke away. During that flooding, acres of rice-cultivating lands were destroyed due to the invasion of salt water. Some farmers had also suffered losses of poultry and other livestock.
During an engagement at the University of Guyana’s 21st installment of its Turkeyen and Tain Talks “Green Building for Resilient Future Cities,” held in November last year, now de-facto Public Infrastructure Minister, David Patterson, announced that $14 billion would be needed between 2020 and 2022 to effect “urgent” repairs to 32.9 kilometers of Guyana’s sea defence.
He had explained that if government fails to execute these works, communities across the coast will suffer a fate similar to that of Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara.
