A steel door will soon be installed at the koker at Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD) following the breach on Wednesday afternoon which caused tremendous flooding.
The announcement was made by the Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha on Sunday.
The new door, which will be installed by the coming weekend, is currently being fabricated offsite.
The Minister explained that the new structure will be made from stainless steel and not the usual timber. This will allow for a lifespan of 40 years compared to the six to eight associated with the usual greenheart gates used across the country.
The steel door will prevent the kind of disasters usually experienced with timber sluice doors. Minister Mustapha revealed that the government plans to have all sluice doors converted to steel in approximately 20 years.
On Wednesday, August 19, around 5:30pm, the sluice door at Market Street, Grove, broke, resulting in the immediate surroundings being flooded.
This prompted a visit to the affected areas by Prime Minister, Brig. (ret’d), Mark Phillips, Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, Minister within Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, and Director-General of the Civil Defense Commission (CDC), Lieutenant Colonel, Kester Craig, as well as other officials.
Later that night, emergency works (installation of two temporary doors) were conducted to the breached koker to prevent further flooding from the high tides that were expected the next morning.
The following day the Director-General of the Civil Defence Commission Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig and team commenced the distribution of sanitisation and other relief supplies to the affected households.
A temporary shelter at the Diamond Secondary School was also made available for the affected residents.
