Whim/Bloomfield NDC... Utility services improved, low-lying community makes drainage a nightmare
-few residents show interest in NDC work
Stabroek News
April 24, 2004
(This is the 18th instalment in a series on local
government)
Maintaining adequate drain-age and irrigation is probably one of the biggest problems for the Whim/Bloomfield Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC).
This community is probably the lowest in Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) in terms of the sea level and is prone to floods. This was evident during heavy rains earlier this week.
The neighbourhood in-cludes Bloomfield, Letter Kenny, the private estate of Auchlyne, and Whim.
However, NDC Chairman Mustapha Rahaman said that the area has experienced great relief from floods though it is not yet appreciated by residents. The plastic tubing installed at Whim last year provides some relief from flooding in the area during light rainfall. The tubing is linked to the drainage system from the neighbouring village of Liverpool where there is a mobile pump. He said the drainage system depends on the mobile pump during the period when there is not much rainfall. The main drainage system cannot work effectively during the dry season or when the rains are not falling heavily because there would not be enough water in the channel.
Earlier this week there was heavy rainfall, which caused some amount of flooding in the neighbourhood particularly at Letter Kenny. Plastic tubing installed at Whim, Letter Kenny and Bloomfield would only drain waters from light rainfall, but this needs to be backed up by clean outfalls within the NDC and neighbouring communities. Last week the NDC installed tubing at Bloomfield and Letter Kenny.
Rahaman told Stabroek News that the Whim/Bloom-field NDC has made representation to the Region Six administration to get the Drainage and Irrigation Board to begin work on cleaning the main drainage outfalls in the NDC. Cleaning of the channel at Letter Kenny is to begin shortly.
This will be followed with the cleaning of the other outfalls in preparation for the anticipated heavy rainfall during the May/June season. The pump at Liverpool which drains Liverpool, Alness, Lancaster and Eversham and other communities within the neighbouring NDC will be inadequate to maintain proper drainage of the low-lying area.
The region has set up a monitoring team, which works along with the National Drainage and Irrigation (D&I) Board. Previously, Rahaman had said that if the channel is dug during the dry season money is wasted especially when silt builds up rapidly and it has to be cleaned again when the rain falls.
Historically the channels are dug when there is water in the system "to blow it out." The three feet of plastic tubing installed at Whim, he said, takes in the water from Letter Kenny and Bloomfield through the façade and this goes through to Liverpool where it is pumped out to the Atlantic. If that pump was not working, he said, Whim being the lowest of the three communities would be constantly under water. In the past, he said, rain clouds only had to gather and Whim would "duck" (be flooded).
The plastic tubing at Whim was installed sometime ago. "The whole situation has changed. Don't make anybody fool you. Ask anyone of them who tell you about Whim being neglected. You could not get into the streets even by foot. Now you could get into those same streets with motor car." Boats were common in the area at the time.
Changing
landscape
Though there are better drainage facilities in place, Rahaman said the landscape in the ocean is different now and it makes drainage more difficult. With rising tides, sand banks are building up rapidly. "People need to understand the changes of nature. The sand banks are stopping the channel from functioning effectively." He feels the administration of the Region Six Regional Democratic Council and the D&I Board are working with the NDC to ensure that drainage and irrigation are brought up to standard.
The last serious flood was exactly eight years ago when heavy rains and spring tides caused the land to be under water for several weeks. Crops and livestock perished during that period.
Work to ensure proper drainage included cleaning out all the middle walk canals and sideline trenches to drain the land to help people to begin cultivation. In spite of this effort, the people are not going to the land. These canals and trenches are cleaned twice yearly. "We do not collect rates and taxes for them. We collect 25% of the rates and taxes. If the government does not give us the subvention we cannot do the kind of work we do each year."
"Without a good drainage system in the area you cannot get food and money, especially if the area depends on farming", he said adding that only a handful of people are farming in Whim, Bloomfield and Letter Kenny. Asked why this was so, he said that many people who own the land have "left for America."
"The few people who are farming have rented the land from those who have gone away. They plant from about five to 50 acres.
"Many who own the land have left relatives in charge or have given them to their sons and friends who do not pay rates and taxes. We have to get this situation under control. If they pay their rates and taxes, we would get the dams built and the trench clean resulting in a good economic situation.
"Only a handful of people are currently cultivating rice and cash crops. There is no excuse for them saying the dam needs bulldozing."
Responding to complaints about road construction, NDC Overseer Pooran Ramsarran said the council could only build roads and other infrastructure with the resources available. "We try to spread the money out so everyone can benefit. The council would build on the foundation laid each year. That is the reason for the maintenance of the road being ongoing," he said.
Even though the roads have been upgraded over the past nine years, he said, they are being used indiscriminately. He said people are taking heavy-duty vehicles, including trucks, on the roads. The council is asking them "to desist and cooperate but they are not hearing us. We want them to cooperate."
Last year's
achievements
With last year's $3 million subvention from Central Government, the NDC built six bridges: five at Whim and one at Letter Kenny. The council rehabilitated ten streets at Whim with burnt-earth, seven streets at Letter Kenny and six in Bloomfield.
Chip sealing was placed in potholes at Letter Kenny. The filling of potholes was not completed in the various villages last year and this is continuing this year. "We cannot put burnt earth to fill the potholes because it will not work."
The council has bought tar and stones, which will be used to fill the potholes for better maintenance.
Last year, too, some 5,000 rods of street drains were cleaned. The council also built two new bus sheds, one at Letter Kenny and the other at Bloomfield. The bus shed at Whim was repaired.
Garbage
collection
Last year, the NDC began the collection of domestic garbage. Though people complain about the place not being cleaned by the council, Rahaman said, the residents are supposed to put their garbage in plastic bags or bins for collection. Instead, some just dump it in their immediate environment. The NDC owns its own tractor and trailer.
Rahaman said he personally cleans the drain and parapet in front of his home. "I clean it myself and I am still paying rates and taxes. I want a clean environment."
Stabroek News noted that a number of drains and parapets throughout the villages were clean.
He said that though the council employs people to clean the area, no one in the neighbourhood wants to take the jobs. The council has had to employ persons from neighbouring communities.
In spite of "your best efforts, you could never please people." Even though "we collect garbage some throw their garbage in the drains. They expect the council's workmen to go and pick up the garbage from the drains. People have a responsibility to keep their environment clean, too", he said.
Complementing the collection of garbage is an education awareness programme aimed at educating the people about environmental protection, Rahaman said adding that the NDC has an environmental health officer attached to it.
Statutory
meetings
Rahaman said residents are invited to statutory meetings but they do not attend. "They don't have time and they are not interested. If they could come and sit down like happens at parliament, we would welcome them."
Statutory meetings are held on the second Tuesday of every month from 1 pm.
Residents have told Stabroek News that they never know when statutory meetings are held. They said the council plans its meetings without participation from the community. Some complained that Rahaman does not have time to speak with them; one even claimed that the chairman ignores him.
Rahaman said that the council, small as it is, holds residential meetings, more of the "bottom-house" type to get a better insight of what people's needs are. They are not "direct" public meetings but all are invited. On the last occasion in Whim there were 22 persons present.
At the last meeting, residents suggested that the council install some street lamps in the three villages. The council was looking at this matter seriously, he said in view of the fact that people want a better standard of living and there is need for improved security.
The council, he said plans to make representation to the RDC on the suggestion. The NDC would like the RDC to defray some of the expense because it could be a costly exercise.
The village already has electricity but no streetlights and the supply of power is fairly reliable. The residents want five street lamps at Whim, five at Bloomfield and another five at Letter Kenny. This may also mean that rates and taxes would have to be increased, as the council will have to pay for electricity consumed.
"We hear the people. We are going to discuss it. We are going to see how we can pay. That is the point we are at," he said.
There are always more suggestions coming from the people at Whim, he said. Sometimes the council calls meetings at Letter Kenny and Bloomfield but the people there appear not to be interested.
This year, he said the council intends to call all the people together and suggest to them that they clean the drains in the streets in front of their residences. Those residents who clean the drains will be given a rebate.
Those who do not clean theirs will be charged the usual rates and taxes. He said it is tough when the council advertises for labourers in the area and nobody responds.
Constraints and
setbacks
Residents have said that much of the work that the council should do they do themselves. They claim that they get work done through cooperatives or through self-help. One resident, Chand-raya Govindu said that he built up a section of the street on which he lives as well as maintains the drains in his area. Christn Ragwen, too, said he has thrown in his services voluntarily as well.
However, Rahaman said that with very few exceptions, when people want to do self-help work they go to the council and the council would advise and assist. Few people would volunteer to do self-help to benefit only themselves and not the wider community. People are not cooperating "to my knowledge as they ought to."
The council, he said intends to call all the community development councils and other groups in the area to join together to further develop the villages.
He said Ragwen was one of a few people who loaned the council his machine to do some work in the vicinity of the cemetery. However, the council paid the watchman and the operator for the work done. At the time of the interview, Rahaman said that no one else has come forward to offer assistance or to organize self-help. "The council is willing to take anyone on onboard to develop the area," he said.
Utility services
Eight years ago when Stabroek News visited the area for the Window on Guyana feature, the area had been without potable water, telephones and electricity. Residents fetched buckets on their heads and in their hands, carted and trucked water from various sources. Today water is available in every home.
Apart from rehabilitating the Whim Market, the NDC is now paying Guyana Water Inc to connect pipelines to the market. Some residents have voluntarily begun to dig the holes to lay the pipelines. Most of the stalls are occupied.
Residents now sell from stalls in the market. Eight years ago, when Stabroek News visited some vendors were selling their produce on bags on the ground. Then too, there were a few vendors as the area had been ravaged by floods and many had been testing the soil for salinity to see whether they could return to farming.
Almost each home has a landline and a number of people boast of owning cellular phones. There is a telephone exchange at Whim and internet cafes or public internet services are provided by a few residents in the neighbourhood.