[www.inewsguyana.com] – Engineer of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Walter Willis has reported that water has receded from most of the areas of Georgetown which were inundated following heavy rainfall on Sunday.
Willis noted that three pumps have been repaired and were put into operation on Monday; one on Sussex Street, another at John Fernandes Ltd, repaired by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), and the third at Caneview Avenue, South Ruimveldt.
Willis also pointed out that all sluices are operating with the exception of the one at Lamaha Street which is being repaired, and a privately owned one at Meadow Bank South, as they are completely blocked.
The engineer observed that all the other 11 sluices are working and discharging flood water, and were only closed for a while when the tide turned back and necessitated this action.
In clearing flood water from other areas, Willis noted that for Queenstown, a pump was used to move water over Irving Street from Queenstown into the Vlissingen Road Canal. This pump was being operated by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, and it is responsible for most of the water receding. He noted that whilst the pump has ceased operations for now, it is on standby if the weather changes.
To help residents in the Princes Street area, another pump is being installed at the upper end of the street as there is still some water in that area.
Draining continued in the upper North and South Ruimveldt areas which were also affected.
Meanwhile, Head of the NDIA, Lionel Wordsworth said that the NDIA has begun work on the Cummings Canal and excavators are working in Middleton Street.
Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, following his inspection of several key drainage structures in the city on Monday, deemed the neglect of the pumps and outfalls as criminal.
This assessment has revealed the shocking state of the drainage system, including the fact that several of the city’s pumps have been down for a while and that the outfall sluices were heavily silted.
Chief Engineer (acting) Ron Eastman explained that six pumps were down for in excess of one year for reasons including mechanical, to facilitate repairs to the discharge pipes and for engine related issues. [Extracted and modified from GINA]
comrade i am not trying to judge mental in anyway or am i attacking the mayor in anyway ,i am a concern citizen who is working and living abroad and the level of professionalism i am seeing in these countries i have been to and the many insults i have had to injure about my country is stink and dirty and i know my country to be a paradise,but had to left so i can provide a better life for my children that i could not have done with the level of responsibilities and the minimum wages i was receiving at the time,comrade all i am saying as much as i understand the state the former government has had the country in ,i focus my attention on the mayor because i was of the views he was in a position to keep guyana clean,as the resources would have been available to him ,not knowing that the city was held at a ransom by those who were responsible ,how ever it is my views that because the current mayor who is serving for so long i think there is a need for changes in the council and by extension some new ideas can be introduce for the interest in developing guyana,s sanitation problem i trust that our new government will accept some new ideas.
Correction The Amerindians who own this Country is not been Paid for the Use of there land,remember the Five races are all outsiders
Mayor should only Have two terms Just the President
Are you talking about the unemployment rate of Sugar Workers
Trevor understand that the city council was deliberately starved of funds by the central government. Then to add insult to injury the ministry planted carol sooba as acting town clerk. This woman was obviously unqualified with her only assignment being to frustrate every effort or initiative aimed at helping the citizens of GT.She locked doors preventing meetings from being convened, withholding funds for repairs to both city markets and refusing to pay an employee hired by the council for nearly a year. Giving a major business in the city a huge tax break with no justification for this action. This is the short list. The Mayor’s hands were tied by the PPP and their agent sooba who was finally kicked out.
Good call…good contribution. Thanks.
remember the mayor was power less for some years now
Correction: “high employment rate” should read “high unemployment rate”
Thanks.
They are barefaced and excellent propagandists.
In your earlier remark you tend to blame the Mayor. His hands and feet were tied. He was stymied by the last two PPP/C administrations (Bar. & Ram.) and also suppressed by the Local Govt Minister then when he appointed Ms Sooba as Town-Clerk. Funds were not adequately released; the city could not revise its rates and taxes nor devise means of generating income to cover even regular maintenance costs. Equipment were in a disrepair state. The Mayor & City Council were held to ransom – to punish and to subjugate PNC supporters. In doing so they have contributed to a less vibrant Tourism Sector, to a high employment rate, and increased crimes in the city. Accountability at one time, though, was questionable and the Mayor seemed to have contributed to lack of transparency. However, there was no justification to hold the citizens to ransom. Hopefully, with an early Local Government Elections conditions will improve.
i don,t understand,this ppp government was in power for so long,and what did they did with taxpayers money,you mean to tell me that our pumps that we paid for with our sweat and tears when they deducts money from our salaries as tax which is to go to the development of guyana,our main water ways draining system,our sanitary ,pump have not been working for so long and people getting paid a salary with our tax payer money,this is the biggest crime ,why should you be paid if you don,t work for it ?who in the ppp/c government was responsible for works and infrastructure they need to be held accountable for the large sums of money collected in their respective ministries and the work done so far,our resources can,t be down for so long,and as soon as a new government take over they are being fix,who were these people fooling and they have the nerve to protest election results ,they should be in jail the head to the toe,
How can the former PPP administration sleep knowing that they neglected the quality of life of the Guyanese people and the country. What a blatant shame!!!!! Their only interest was lining their pockets with money. Investigation is on the way and many will be behind bars!!!!
This new government is a step in the right direction. I would recommend inviting the Dutch engineers to collaborate to fix this massive drainage problem. In addition the people who are clogging the waterways drainage need to stop this filthy habits of throwing their garbage including old vehicles in the drainage areas.
The culture of uncleanliness and ignorance must be replace by a culture of vibrant, intellectual and progressive behaviors for us to move forward in this 21st century. This is what Guyana was know for.
We can bring back some of the culture that stimulated habits and behaviors that were progressive and made us proud. . This current leadership will make it happen, but the people must take the opportunities being offered and make it happen . We have lots of resources that needs to be developed but people must be educated and skilled in the varied fields. It is time to bring out the brilliance of the Guyanese people, it was sleeping for a long time with the former depressive government. The youth and the current brilliant individuals in Guyana can help with that along with collaboration of developed nations. Education, education, education of our people. Engineers, doctors, high tech, etc, etc. Wake up the sleeping brilliant youths and adults by energizing and setting the stage for this culture of excellence!!!!!! As the saying goes, if you continue to sleep, others who are educationally and skillfully prepared and awake will see your opportunities, take it and make good uses of it Blessings to Guyana and the people of Guyana!
All of this neglect of the city,equipment and the infrastructure by the PPP/C only because they deemed it a PNC stronghold. Equipment sitting idle while that administration spent millions of tax payer dollars for people to blog political propaganda and write stories on the parties behalf. I suppose the residence of Georgetown are not citizens of Guyana. This is wicked and criminal to say the least, vindictive at best . I shudder to think what would become of Guyana had the PPP prevailed at the pools.
APNUites busy like bees.
They cannot cover one pot hole per day anymore.
Govament muss wukking.
Excellent news. Let us hope this augurs well for the future well-being of the city and its citizens.
we have a mayor who has been in office for as long as i can remember ,what was he doing about these situation with regard to the flooding and block drainage,i in my humble opinion think we need to change the mayor and get some new perspectives
So 6 pumps were down for a year and 3 of them were then repaired in 2 days. Ok so this is why a new Government was needed. Complacency and disinterest seeps in to all Governments the world over, when they remain in power too long. The Guyanese people, who own this Country were the ones paying for it.
Keep up the good works HE Granger and team.