Community officials in Buxton and Belladrum have reported improvements in drainage following commitments made by Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha.
A release from the Ministry of Agriculture yesterday said that when Mustapha visited Buxton on the East Coast of Demerara around two weeks ago farmers had cited the need for critical drainage works to be carried out in several areas of the village.
The release said that, to date, 80% of the works have been completed and the outstanding works are scheduled to commence within the next few days.
Chairman of the Buxton/Friendship Grantees Corp Society, Leroy Hamer was reported in the release as saying that residents are already experiencing relief following the meeting.
“When the Minister was here with his team, we asked for the Friendship Middle Walk and the Friendship East and West Sidelines to be cleared. Today I can say that works on the Middle Walk and the East Sideline were completed. The works were done in a timely manner even with the current weather and because of that we have not experienced any flooding, even with the heavy rains that are falling. I want to thank the Minister for being a man of his word,” Hamer said.
The release added that Mustapha also met last month with residents of Belladrum, West Berbice, and among the issues raised then were drainage and irrigation. The release said that Mustapha then instructed officials from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) to have works carried out on a number of drains and canals in the area. In less than seven days, the NDIA was able to deploy the requisite resources to commence critical works on the AD 60A main drainage canal, which is over 3.4 miles long, the release added.
Belladrum NDC Chair-man, Emile Wilson was reported in the release yesterday as saying that he was happy with the works.
“I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised to see works were done. These kinds of things do not happen every day. In the past, Ministers never visited these communities, so the fact that a Minister came and actually fulfilled his promise, I must commend Minister Mustapha. We the residents of Belladrum now have some amount of confidence restored in officials holding public office, at least those in the Ministry of Agriculture,” Wilson said, according to the release.
Nabaclis
On Thursday last, the release said that after meeting with farmers from Nabaclis on the East Coast of Demerara, Mustapha initiated a needs assessment to determine the extent of works necessary to bring relief to residents and farmers there.
Following that meeting, a team comprising research and extension officers from the National Agricultural, Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) returned to the village and met with farmers to work on a plan of action.
Chairman of the Nabaclis Water Users Association, Kenrick Wickham was reported in the release as saying that he was pleased with the progress made thus far.
“We met with the Minister on Thursday and all the things he said he would do was done in a timely manner. He said the team from NAREI would come on Friday and they came on Friday. He said the engineer would come to do the needs assessment early in the week and the engineer confirmed that he will be coming this afternoon. I think hope has been restored in the system and persons in the village can now look forward to Government officials keeping their promises,” Wickham said.
