Remedial work on collapsed sections of the East Demerara Conservancy Dam is said to be moving apace with earth being specially selected from certain areas.
There is a lot of concern that when the rainy season arrives many villages in front of the damaged sections will be severely flooded. Com-menting on the issue at yesterday’s post cabinet press briefing, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon said that two contractors were excavating clay from identified areas and bringing it to slipped sections.
“The major effort is to secure the slippage areas with the right quality of soil and the areas where clay was available, those areas have been identified and the contractors are excavating clay from those areas and bringing it to the slipped areas on the dam to raise the height of the dam to whatever is the normal level.”
According to Luncheon, the Drainage and Irrigation Board (D&IB) personnel had told Cabinet that while one of the contractors was working on the conservancy side, the other was operating from the land side.
The D&IB is said to be supervising the remedial works and based on their concerns and those expressed by the communities bordering the dam and also the East Demerara Water Conservancy Commissioners, weekly reports are now being provided to a cabinet sub-committee.
He added that corrective works were expected to be concluded before the onset of the anticipated rains.
He further alluded to the interest of the Guyana Sugar Corporation which had indicated support in advancing urgent rehabilitation.
“GUYSUCO, a major water user, has entered an appearance and has indicated their readiness to be involved in either recruiting contractual labour to contribute to a faster rate of rehabilitation to the slipped areas of the dam.”
He said efforts were being made to pursue their offers to finality. Cabinet at its sitting was also briefed about the continued dry spell and increasingly lower water levels.
Alluding to concerns about the repair work, Luncheon said the D&IB had beefed up supervision and surveillance of the contractors.
He said the intervention of the Office of the President through its requests for weekly reports was also an indication of its overriding concern. (Oscar P. Clarke)