Repairs to the East Demerara Conservancy Dam will now be done on the basis of completed design work, according Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon.

He told reporters yesterday at a post-Cabinet press briefing that this was one of the recommendations of the investigative team that was set up to ascertain the cause of the breach of the dam on November 3, that resulted in the Cane Grove community being flooded.

Damage to homes and crops ran into millions of dollars. The government provided $15 million for compensation to those who suffered losses identified by a team led by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development.

"Their recommendation seeks to put in place a principled approach that for remedial work to be done on the dam ...design work [should be first] completed and on that basis for the remedial work to be done." Luncheon said that the final report of the team that should have been handed in at the end of January had been held up by the late submission of data from fieldwork that had already been done.

He said too that work of the team had benefited from the meetings it had with the contractors, BK International, the commissioners of the East Demerara Conservancy, the Drainage and Irrigation Board and the Ministry of Agriculture.

Luncheon reported that the team continued to comment on the state of the dam, including identifying areas of concern and as a consequence, "Cabinet has authorized the commencement of design work prior to definitive remedial action."

He said that the Cabinet "has also authorised quick action been taken to arrest the deterioration at critical areas which has already been identified by staff involved in monitoring the state of the dam."