President says Hope canal to go ahead despite naysayers

By Reuben Stoby

President Bharrat Jagdeo has again responded to criticisms of the construction of the multi-million-dollar Hope/Dochfour Canal, saying that the decision to go ahead with its construction was done only after adequate technical expertise was sought.

Speaking at a media conference on Friday, February 11th, the president also said that a certain section of the media had predicted that government was making a ‘colossal’ mistake in deciding to go ahead with the project despite many criticisms from engineers, while ignoring the many explanations that government had given for the canal’s construction.

When completed, the 10.3-kilometre canal is expected to eliminate overtopping at the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) and bring flood relief to thousands of farmlands along the Mahaica and Mahaicony Creeks, among other areas.

The president said it was announced, since the launching of the project last September, that sufficient technical advice was sought. “They would have known by now that this project was not designed by Jagdeo or Robert Persaud; that we hired Mott McDonald, a British firm, which then came in partnership with SRKN, a major local engineering firm, and CEMCO. Three engineering firms did all of the studies on water flow on the conservancy, on designing the projects, etc.”

Jagdeo added that after the three firms had come up with the design, it was put online and a copy was sent to the Guyana Association of Professional Engineers for further comments on the design of the project. Only then, he said, were the ‘politicians’ allowed to proceed with the publicising of the project.

“They forgot all about this. Not a word (was said) that Mott McDonald, which was the lead designer, is a British engineering firm of international reputation, and (that) CEMCO and SRKN are two major leading designing firms.” The head of state noted that such criticisms were also leveled at the government prior to the construction of the Berbice River Bridge.

“Just when we were about to start, some engineer said that we shouldn’t build it (Berbice Bridge) because the location was wrong. Had I listened to these same engineers, who often don’t have a “name”, we would have never had the Berbice Bridge. President Jagdeo also said that government’s frugality on the expenditure of the project’s construction was also disclosed.

“We went further to show that, by doing it in-house in accordance with the design (and) using our own equipment, we can cut the cost significantly by over a billion dollars.” The cost of the project has been estimated at Gy$3.6 billion.

Spending, so far, includes some Gy$400 million for the procurement of 14 long reach excavators and some Gy$100 million as compensation for property, land and crops.

In January, Minister Persaud said that the project had entered a new phase, and that some Gy$750 million would be spent on it. The new phase involves earthen works, which would be done by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA).

The canal will connect to the northern end of the EDWC, run through the Hope/Dochfour area, and cut across the East Coast Public Road to drain into the Atlantic Ocean.There are some 30,000 hectares of farming land located within these areas, that value about US$1000 per hectare, totalling approximately US$30 million — as much as the entire project costs.