Cabinet to declare state of emergency-- US$5M from sea defence work for El Nino relief
By Gitanjali Singh
Cabinet is expected to declare a national state of emergency shortly because of the impact of the current drought on the country, Finance Minister, Bharrat Jagdeo, said yesterday. He also announced that the World Bank had given the green light for the government to redirect US$5 million from the sea defence project to provide relief to the areas hardest hit. Briefing the media at the GTV studios yesterday, Jagdeo said the bank agreed to make the disbursement quickly and he expected the resources to be available in two weeks. Government had last declared a state of emergency in 1996, when excessive rainfall and high tides had caused extensive flooding throughout the country. Rice farmers had been particularly hard hit and some hinterland communities had been under water for months. The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) had coordinated government's relief efforts with aid from local and international donor agencies. Other concerned citizens, through an effort mounted by television station owner C.N. Sharma had donated truckloads of food to flooded out communities. "The impact of the El Nino [phenomenon] on Guyana is great [and] we have to determine the areas of activities that we need to participate in because we just do not want to waste the resources," he said. Help is expected to be provided to miners, rice producers (seed paddy) and in the form of food stuff for persons in the interior regions. The minister said the areas to be targeted were still being worked out. Cabinet, he said, was briefed by him yesterday on the bank's approval and Dr Roger Luncheon, chairman of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), will be worked with closely on the determination of the areas to be targeted. Forest fires ignited by the dry El Nino conditions are posing a threat to the Moco Moco Hydropower project in Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo). Jagdeo explained that the sea defence project, which went out four times to tender, had failed to attract a competitive bid and therefore the government had moved to use the loan to help alleviate the impact of the El Nino weather condition. The government went to international tender for the Caribbean Development Bank/World Bank/Inter-American Development Bank sea defence project three times, but did not get any competitive bids. Jagdeo said even an attempt to merge the projects and go for a single tender failed with the lowest responsive bid being $50 million for 100 metres of sea defence. He said that even with Pac Gelfi, this cost the government $30 million per 100 metre. To go out to international tender again would take another six to eight months and Jagdeo said that this was why he asked that the US$5 million from the World Bank component be reallocated. He said the remaining part of the loan will be used for smaller emergency work which can be tendered for locally and regionally. "We hope the El Nino would be a temporary thing. We don't expect it to be long-term or it could ruin our country. That's why it is a temporary relief measure we are taking," Jagdeo said. The government intends to do much dredging work on the mouth of the rivers which have silted up over the years and Jagdeo said he has budgeted for money to add some accessories to a dredge owned by the Ministry of Public Works. He expects that city outfall canals can benefit from this dredge. The minister also noted the effect the prolonged dry spell was having on production in the country, contending that it had changed consumption patterns, would impact on the commercial sector and have other spill over effects. 
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