Hope Canal Project 75 per cent complete – Dr Ramsammy

Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy on Friday in the company of National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lionel Wordsworth inspected the progress of work ongoing on the Gy$ 3.6 billion Hope Canal Project geared to reduce flooding on the East Coast of Demerara.

The visit was also to advance to the contractors the idea of extending their work hours to guarantee the four components of the project to meet the stipulated June 2013 deadline.
In light of the good weather now being experienced, he urged that they push in extra hours. “I want all of the contractors to begin working as many hours as possible… It could be that we start early and we work until evening, or we work extended hours in the night,” the minister said.
The effort is aimed towards getting the contractors to complete specific aspects of the works before the advent of the next rainy period.
Meanwhile, Minister Ramsammy said construction on the relief canal is 75 per cent complete with less than one kilometer more to the conservancy and the ocean side. The channel will be 10.3 kilometers from the conservancy to the Atlantic Ocean and will feature a shallow area.
The contractors and workers are now working on the 20.6 km embankment that will run alongside the channel, Minister Ramsammy said.
Following the completion of the project, walk bridges will be built in the area where the canal and dam cut into the community area and a drainage canal will be constructed parallel to the dam to connect with the drainage canal already in the area.
The bridge that will span the canal is 34 per cent complete and most of the work there at present entails driving of the 342 piles that are needed to lay the structure’s foundation.
Minister Ramsammy said that this is the longest aspect of the work but when completed will only require assembly of the other parts of the bridge at the location.
The minister said that he was particularly proud of the work being done on the relief channel, especially from Crown Dam to the conservancy.
He said even with the job still incomplete, with the result achieved, government can score some points knowing that it undertook a difficult and challenging task using the skills of mostly local engineers.
The minister expressed confidence that the project will meet its completion deadline. The only aspect that presents some challenge is the construction of the eight-door high level sluice that has been affected by constraints of the availability of the log piles needed to lay its foundation. Thus far, about Gy$ 2 billion has been spent on the Hope Canal.