| …big spending for little relief – PNCR The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) says that, by now, it must be obvious to the population that the Jagdeo Administration is at its lethargic best when it comes to making adequate preparations for the current rainy season.As such, the administration has an obligation to compensate all Guyanese who have suffered losses and are still suffering because of the present floods.Vice-Chairman of the party,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, Basil Williams, during the party’s weekly press briefing, on Thursday at Congress Place, Sophia,Wholesale Jerseys, said that the frantic last-minute and uncoordinated activities are enough evidence that,Authentic Carolina Panthers Jersey, since the traumatic floods of 2005, the administration has done very little to prepare for the current floods.“The Government is spending big (referring to the $1.7B spent to avert flooding) for little relief.”He noted that it was all the more troubling as those (2005/2006) floods not only caused the loss of lives, but also substantial economic ruin for many Guyanese; and now, in 2008, flooding has been serious in several parts of the country, such as Ithaca,Jerseys Wholesale, Pouderoyen, Pomeroon and several communities along the East Coast. “There have already been major economic losses for Guyanese.”The party vice-chairman also drew reference to a report conducted by the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) and the IDB following the 2005/2006 flood, and set out an agenda for action.These recommendations included attending to the infrastructure at Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary; repairing vulnerable sections of the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) dam; installing new pumps in the city; and dredging silted rivers.According to Williams, no attention was paid to “these urgent problems, and it appears that no provision was made to fund them…Instead, in spite of the warnings of the PNCR, the Jagdeo Administration hosted Carifesta X, spending in excess of G$700M…That money is desperately needed now to deal with the serious flooding situation in Guyana.”The call is reminiscent of that of Chairman of Vision Guyana, Peter Ramsaroop, who visited Region Two during the past week and called for immediate economic attention to many depressed communities in the Pomeroon River, most of which depend on farming for an income.Those people reported that they had lost everything in their farmlands, because they were inundated.Ramsaroop visited communities on the east bank of the Pomeroon River, Haimacabra, Waramuri, Father’s Beach, and several villages also the Akawini River.Ramsaroop, during the visit, called for a subsidy of some type to benefit farmers who are affected on a yearly basis by flooding due to ineffective drainage and infrastructure.Father’s Beach, in Region Two, had also reported a dam failure on Sunday last,Aleksander Barkov Jersey, causing water from the Atlantic Ocean to flood the community and its farmlands.According to the farmers in the region, the lack of efficient drainage and irrigation is largely to be blamed for the high levels of water in their farmlands.Orlando Norton, village councillor of Father’s Beach, told this newspaper that, in the interim,Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale, the community was seeking to convince funding agencies to assist in the reconstruction of the dam protecting the community.Nicholas Gonsalves, also of Pomeroon, told this newspaper that he lost his entire farmland to the flooding.He reported, too, that several of his fellow farmers were faced with the same dilemma. This newspaper has learnt that, on the west bank of the river, the farmlands were all empoldered and so did not suffer the same fate.Agriculture Ministry officials confirmed that empoldering the farmlands on the east bank of the river is currently a priority.Water on East and West Coast Demerara has also been posing a significant problem, affecting several farming villages, with farmers complaining of significant losses to not only cash crops but also livestock.The waters have also inundated large sections of the capital city during the past two weeks, and according to City Mayor Hamilton Green, despite its best efforts, the municipality is ill-financed to address such a major problem.Mayor Green told a press conference on Tuesday that, in order to rehabilitate the drainage system, about $2 billion would be required. |
