– garbage dumping by business community a major problem
Collaboration among the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), the Region Six council (RDC) and the New Amsterdam Mayor and Town Council has resulted in the township not experiencing any major flooding this rainy season – a first in decades.
With two operating pumps and the maintenance of major drainage works, Mayor of New Amsterdam, Wainwright McIntosh in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Stabroek stated, “We are in the rainy season, I am happy to share that the town of New Amsterdam to date did not have any major flooding.”
According to the Mayor, from last August to the present they embarked on “many drainage projects that would have cost us almost a million dollars to rent machinery and all of that.”
He explained, that at Strand, New Amsterdam, they had to break a piece of concrete to have access to the drainage network where they discovered an additional concrete structure at the bottom “which would have blocked that drainage network for many years more than a decade so after we break that top layer we would have been able to solve that problem of flooding within central New Amsterdam area.”
Further, he said that revetment work is being done in the Smithfield area coupled with the clearing of the canal there.
This he said was being done by the NDIA through the RDC, “it’s a collaborative approach, a multi-stakeholder approach towards sustaining the drainage network in the council and for that I am very much happy for that collaboration that is the way forward, Guyana belongs to Guyanese.”
Additionally, he said that works are also being done in the Strand, New Amsterdam area where the drains are being cleared manually “to actually enable the pump to work in a more effective manner.”
He explained that prior to the works started at that location, there was grass in the drainage network.
However, one of the major challenges the town is facing is that of the dumping of garbage.
He noted that as a municipality they were able to be more efficient with their garbage collection, however, the dumping of garbage still exists.
He pointed to Strand, New Amsterdam where he said that they had cleaned up for the Independence celebration, a cleaning project which saw staff of the council volunteering.
“I went back there the next day, the persons went right back to dumping garbage, so while we consciously improve in our solid waste collection persons continue to litter and based on the content that was seen there it’s coming from sections of the business community”, he said.
According to the Mayor, a senior citizen reached out to him to visit Church Street. New Amsterdam, where at the back of a business at the location garbage was being dumped.
“…those are all challenges, each time we have to go out there it comes with a cost in terms fuel, labour cost, etc, it comes with an emotional cost to the workers at the Mayor and Town Council after they would have cleaned up and when to pass back there the next day it plays on their emotions, it plays on their morale and so the time is now for us to be conscious when it comes to caring of our environment.”
Asked about a noticeable buildup of water at Trinity Street, New Amsterdam, McIntosh said that the conclusion based on observations is that “citizens are responsible for the state of the environment, take into consideration it is not the staff that has placed that heavy buildup of garbage along Strand and central New Amsterdam, citizens.”
McIntosh stressed that the council is still very willing to work along with the business community despite their malpractices. He stressed that a collaborative approach is necessary to fix the issue.
“Hence I am calling on citizens to play a more meaningful role when it comes to the care and preservation of our environment.”
Questioned on what he thinks it would take for a change, the Mayor said it would be the implementation of fines with strict policies. “We have to institute fines, if possible prosecute persons for the illegal dumping, even if you throw the bottle out a window you should be locked up.”
This, he said, would need a multi-sectoral approach “because if you are to examine the local government system there should be a municipal court where we look at these issues and hold persons accountable so fines being instituted through the municipal court will come back to the community which will be used for development” within the various local government authorities.
Meanwhile, the Mayor took pride in noting that New Amsterdam is not one of the hotspots for the mosquito-borne dengue fever as he stated that the council had taken a proactive approach with continuous fogging and staff spraying drains throughout the town.
The council presently has two machines, one of which is operational, and the Mayor stressed that the council has been collaborating with the public health authority.
Regional Chairman, David Armogan, on Thursday reported to the Sunday Stabroek that the region has a total of twelve machines which are being used within East Berbice/Corentyne. He said six are being shared within the various neighbourhood democratic councils, while six are being used by the health authority.
