Water levels in some Mahaicony farms and grazing lands remain relatively high as unfavourable weather conditions have forestalled works to effectively seal the sea defence breach.
The Mahaicony shoreline has been subject to an erosion cycle and as a result has been rapidly wearing away.
Stabroek News was told that some boulders were taken to the beach area which lies within Dantzig and Content, Mahaicony.
Jermaine Brathwaite, Project Manager at the Ministry of Public Infrastructure’s River and Sea Defence Department, told Stabroek News that a contract was recently awarded to BK International to execute remedial works on the fragile sea defence. He informed that the contractor has been able to mobilise its machinery and delivered some boulders to seal the breach.
BK International was awarded the contract to execute works on 23 kilometres of sea defence in the Mahaicony area. An additional two kilometres are also expected to see remedial works, Brathwaite said.
He explained that they will carry out further upgrades to the 700 metres of sea defence that were breached last year. Brathwaite said they also have to seal a gap that was not completed.
Touching on the challenges faced by the contractor preventing him from executing works, Brathwaite noted that the access road is in a deplorable state due to continuous rainfall. This has prevented workers from moving the needed clay and other materials to the work site.
He is hopeful that the rains would ease soon and good weather will allow the earthen dam to dry so that materials can be effectively mobilised.
The Sea and River Defence Project Manager noted too that they have carried out some empoldering around lands to prevent salt water from the Atlantic Ocean from further intruding into lands that were being used for pastures and rice cultivation.
Brathwaite disclosed that there has been constant monitoring of the sea defence by the use of drones and footage indicates that the mangrove fringes and the shore line have been rapidly washing away.
The Mahaicony sea defence for a number of years had been protected by what is termed as a soft defence which is was made up of mangroves and natural shorelines. However, the shoreline has been falling victim to the erosion cycle resulting in a natural depletion of the mangrove forest and this caused the breaches along the coast.
Additionally, Regional Chairman of Region Five Vickchand Ramphal told Stabroek News that concerns were recently raised by some rice farmers as they had observed salt water making its way into the backdam where they are cultivating rice.
He noted that the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority had installed a temporary culvert in the Cottage area to assist with draining of the inundated lands at Dantzig and Content. However, with no blockage in place farmers have complained of excess saltwater in the irrigation channels.
However, Ramphal assured that the issue was rectified after the concerns were aired.
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 is 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.
With no new budget and the political impasse the country currently faces, the Ministry is being challenged to source the adequate amount of funds to timely execute emergency works.
