Junior Agriculture Minister Ali Baksh is calling on Region Six residents to stop the indiscriminate dumping of garbage in waterways. Speaking at a recent project inspection tour in the region, Baksh said the dumping of solid waste has led to widespread flooding in the region, not only in agricultural communities, but also in residential areas.
Six mini excavators have been sent to Region Six to assist with the clearing of community drains. Currently, the machines are deployed at Tain, Bloomfield, Rose Hall Town and Albion and work has already been completed in the Fyrish/ Kilcoy area.
At Tain, the minister met with some residents to explain the project and to get their feedback. One resident, Lillowtie Lackram said the project is a laudable one, but stressed the need for persons to have garbage bins in their yards to manage their waste.
She noted that on a daily basis, residents dump garbage on the road shoulders in her community. This, she said results in the clogging of drains.
Minister Baksh noted that the current project will complement ongoing work. He said over the past four years, persons from each community were employed as drainage and irrigation (D& I) workers to assist the neighbourhood democratic councils (NDCs). He added that there are about 2000 workers, and this costs government about Gy$ 800 million annually.
Internal drains
Region Six parliamentary representative Fizal Jafferally, who accompanied the minister on the visit, explained that the machines are only clearing the internal drains.
“We are hoping by the second week in December before the rains come in full force, we are hoping to have all the internal drains across Region Six desilted, and wherever the machines cannot go, it is understandable that the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) will use the NDCs workers to have the smaller drains desilted.”
He is hoping that upon completion, there will be better drainage in the communities across the region, especially in residential areas. Jafferally also noted that the entire region suffers from poor solid waste management.
Meanwhile, NDIA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lionel Wordsworth said the community drainage project has been introduced in the other regions of the country. Wordsworth said the project aims to restore the capacity of the community drainage system to adequately drain water to the primary system.
