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Please
note that this webpage carries reports from April 28th 2005 to December
22nd 2005. |
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The present state of most
canals on the lower East Coast area. |
April 28th 2005:
I took a few photos to show you the condition of most of the canals on the lower
east coast area, the government and the city council tells us constantly that they have
done a lot of work and spent a lot of money to prepare for the 2006 May/June rains.
All of the areas that are pictured below were severely affected by the 2005 January
flood but have not been cleared or
looked at by the government or the city council. You be the judge of this matter
and let me know if you think that enough has been done to make sure that the
flood does not reoccur.
The reason
the East Coast flooded in January was because the Met office had predicted
January to be a dry month and as such a large amount of water was kept in the in the conservancy
in order to have water for Guysuco and the farmers on the east coast for their
crops, so when the unexpected rain stared on January 16th, the already full
conservancy soon overflowed into the East coast villages causing serious damage
to household and some 20 odd deaths by the time it was all over. When you combine the
overflow of the conservancy with the clogged up waterways and the neglected
kokers all along the East Coast, you can then better understand why the place
flooded so easily in January 2005.
Now they have
knowledge way in advance that the rainy season is due for May and June 2006, but these
super-brains in charge of the conservancy water level sees it fit to keep the
water level extremely high once more. I have photos below of the Lama canal with
weed and grass growing on it, now ladies and gentlemen, the Lama canal is the
only source for water for Georgetown and the last thing that you want to have is
grass and weed growing in this main water source. Not only will it block the
flow of the water but the weeds and grass is a perfect habitat for germs and
disease to fester and they are allowing this to happen as the photos show.
The bottom line is that the government
and the city council have done very little to make sure that the flood does not
reoccur. They have not cleared any of the canals or trenches on the lower east
coast area even though they have collected some 1 million US dollars in
aid/funding from the Canadian government to fix these waterways. Many more
millions were donated by other governments including the Americans. What is being done with all this money
is any one's guess. Whose pocket is filled to overflowing as will be the case
with our homes when the rains come once more?
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| On the road
that lead to the University of Guyana |
Facing the
other way on the UG road |
Looking east
at the junction that leads into UG on the embankment road |
Outside of
the doctor's quarters on New Market Street |
The other
side of the road looking at Woodbine Hotel |
This
excavator took 3 days to travel from the bridge to the spot where it is
now |
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| Weed filled
canal outside of the GT&T earth station |
Embankment
road |
another shot
of the blocked canal at Patterson/ Belair |
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This canal
runs runs along the Texaco service station at Belair |
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| A blocked
gutter in sand road, Belair |
Sand road
Sophia/ Belair, Moses Nagamotoo lives in this street. |
Do you think
that water can pass
through here? |
Totally
choked up, when the rain comes here will flood for sure |
Looking north
on this same bridge |
A main canal
between the east coast highway and the embankment road, Lilliendall |
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| facing east,
this canal leads to the Lilliendall pumping station |
facing west |
This road
leads to Sand road. |
Canal next to
the Texaco station at Belair east coast |
This is along
the east coast highway |
Looking east
on the Lama canal |
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| Another look
east of the Lama canal |
Looking west
of the Lama canal |
Another shot
west of the Lama canal, this is where Georgetown gets it's water supply. |
This dragline
has been sitting here for the last 2 months on the left side of the UG
access road |
The dragline
cleared this right side 2 months ago but as you can see, it has been
overtaken once more. |
This excavator
was brought in to clear the 40 foot canal after 8 weeks of the dragline being on the
site doing absolutely nothing. |
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Report for Sunday, June 12th 2005 |
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As of
Sunday, June 12th 2005: All of the waterways shown above except for the Lama
canal remains in the same condition as when we photographed them on
April 28th 2005. It is indeed amazing that after the terrible flooding
suffered by residents of the East Coast area due to these very canals and
waterways being clogged up prior to that flood period that the authorities
have not seen it fit to make some effort to clear them. It is sad to live in
this country that I love so much, to see it being dismantled on a daily
basis by heartless, inconsiderate and totally incompetent individuals who
could not care less how much their people suffer. In Guyana, it seems
that no matter how incompetent one is, he or she has nothing to worry about
once that person has contacts with the ruling party and this is definitely
the case with the head of the drainage and irrigation board Ravi Narine.
Narine's incompetence was the cause of the flooding during January and
February and today he still holds the very job he had prior to the flooding,
in any other country, he would have long been fired and by now would have
been placed in front of a commission to answer for his incompetence and
neglect.
As for
the so called flood relief secretariat headed by PPP faithful Robeson Benn,
it is unbelievable that any operation could be as badly managed as this.
This secretariat was given the task to register the homes and farms affected
by the flood, what in fact happened was that Benn took a handful of so
called volunteers and did a horrible job of registering persons who
suffered. Hundreds of households remain unregistered and most likely will
not see a cent of the money promised to them. In Turkeyen, where I live,
residents have not seen a single person from either the flood relief
secretariat, the Red Cross or any of the many so called flood relief groups.
It is as if Turkeyen never existed for them even though the millions that
came into Guyana for flood relief can be directly credited to the unselfish
work of a single resident of this forgotten neighborhood. |
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Blocking
canals to build gas stations and malls. "Rajana Madness" |
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October
13th 2005: At
first, I figured that the Hymac and trucks were working on cleaning the canal at
the junction of the Embankment and the UG access road but after a few days,
I realised that there was more to what was happening, after all why would
they put sand and loom into a canals that they had just cleaned? then a
neighbor shockingly informed me that what was actually taking place was the construction of
a gas station. One Cecil Rajana had taken it upon himself to fill in these
canals, not caring of the danger such a careless and stupid project would
bring to residents. Cecil Rajana has earned the top "shame on you" prize
from the Guyana flood website.
I mean after the terrible flood in January and the suffering that
people on the east coast experienced, surely no one would even dare to think
of blocking any of the barely visible canals. I expected that the canals
were going to be cleaned but to my amazement these incompetent corrupt
people are actually blocking a major canal to build a gas station. What is
even more amazing is that they have dwelling houses just a few feet behind
where this gas station will be placed, can you imagine the implication of
someone cooking a meal and thousands of gallons of gasoline is just a few
feet away from your stove? One of the worksite guy actually said that the
president of Guyana gave them the permission to build this gas station, wow.
The City
Council has issued a work stop order and presently noting is happening at
the construction site, my concern is that the work will resume after a
few palms have been greased, in other words as soon as the right persons in
charge have been bribed. |
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Photos taken on
October 15th 2005. Locations: UG Road Junction, Turkeyen and across from the
CARICOM Complex |
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| This area is
located at the junction of the UG road and the embankment highway |
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This Hymac can
be seen on the dam that separates the 2 canals |
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| This is the gas
station construction site as of today October 24th 2005 |
This is the
construction site as of today October 24th 2005 |
This is the
canal in front of the CARICOM Complex that was also filled in. |
This canal is
now totally blocked, what will happen when the expected heavy rainfall
comes? |
What kind of
mad people are we dealing with here? |
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Update on
the Cecil Rajana illegal construction - December 1st 2005 |
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December 1st, 2005:
The heavy
rainfall that we were expecting came today, December 1st 2005, and it did
not take long for the area around the Rajana illegal construction site at
the UG junction to flood. The photos below shows the flooded yards after
just a few hours of rainfall. |
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This is taken from the embankment highway |
A closer shot of the property that is
located directly at the junction |
Another yard also flooded |
This is not a duck pond, it is the result
of the Rajana construction |
This shop is located in Fist St Cummings
lodge |
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House in First St Cummings Lodge |
Flooded yard in First St Cummings Lodge |
The shop at the junction flooded |
Shot from UG access road |
This city council excavator came right up
to the mud filled canal and turned back yesterday. |
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Drainage system ready for
rainy season -stakeholders say
Tuesday, November 15th 2005
www.stabroeknews.com
With rain expected in the next two to three weeks stakeholders in the
drainage and irrigation sector gave assurances that the system is
fully equipped and prepared to deal with excess water. The meeting,
which was held at the Ministry of Agriculture was attended by
representatives of that Ministry, regional administrations, the
National Drainage and Irrigation Board (ND&IB), Guysuco and the
Hydrometeorological Office.
The Government Information Agency (GINA) reported Minister of
Agriculture Satyadeow Sawh telling participants, "We want to be sure
even though all the work would have been done. We feel we have done so
much necessary to prevent what happened earlier this year." GINA said
that he expressed confidence that all the necessary infrastructure is
in place to ensure that the water does not stay on the land should the
January/February floods this year recur. Balika Seulall of the
Hydrometeorological Office said high intensity rainfall is expected to
begin in the next two to three weeks.
Several regional administrators indicated their D&I systems are fully
equipped and have the capacity to deal with unprecedented rainfall
that could cause flooding. Regional Chairman Region Four, Allan Munroe
said massive works were undertaken in the region through the Flood
Task Force established by Government. "Following the work of the task
force the region is in a better position to deal with floods," Munroe
mentioned.
Region Three Regional Chairman Esau Dookie said massive works have
been undertaken in the region through the Task force. Also at the
meeting was Agriculture Operations Director of Guysuco, Babish
Ramkeerat who indicated that the company's drainage trenches have been
cleared and all the sluices are operational. Out of the 47 pumps owned
and operated by Guysuco, 45 are operational with the other two set to
become functional shortly.
Bryan Mackintosh's note: The lower East Coast area is in the exact
condition as the photos above indicates, none of the canals that we
have photos of above have been cleaned and to add to the woes of the
people of Turkeyen, Cummings Lodge & lilliendaal, we now have to deal
with the 2 canals that have been filled in at the Junction of UG road
and the Embankment highway and also the canal that was filled in by
the CARICOM Complex at Lilliendaal. The only canal that is presently
being worked on is one that runs parallel to the east coast highway
and the Embankment road. The authorities are trying to mislead the
public with their statement that everything is in order, when in fact
very little has been done, even though
eight hundred millions dollars
1.4 billion dollars has been
spent with little results since the flood in January. There is urgent
need to totally revamp the bodies in charge of maintaining our
drainage system as the present head of the Drainage and Irrigation
Board Ravi Narine has proven through his incompetence and neglect
before and during January of 2005, that he has little concern for the
welfare of the people of this country. In no other country in the
world, would have an official been able to retain his job after the
disaster and damage his incompetence cause the people of this country
in January 2005, when this country experienced its worst man made
disaster. May God show us his mercy in the coming months as the rainy
season approaches. |
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Update.
December 1st 2005. Georgetown flooded once more. |
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December 1st, 2005:
After BS-ing us that they have done all that they could have done to prevent
future flooding around the city and beyond, we are now able to see the
result of the work that they claimed to have done. With so many canals and
drains left clogged and still to be cleaned, we are back to square one, we
are on the verge of a serious flood once more. With
eight
hundred million dollars 1.4 billion dollars
spent so far but maybe this money
ended up one someone's pocket? The scamps and crooks who administer the
affairs of this city and the country-side are beyond caring about a bit of
flooding, so what if your homes are damaged, they have already filled their
pockets and they could not care less what we have to say about them. Guyana
needs new people to look after her and we need them now!!!! |
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1st Cummings lodge |
BelAir East Coast |
Upper Main St |
Upper Main St |
main St |
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Main St |
Main St |
Courts Store, Main St |
Quamina St |
Carmichael St |
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Bishops High |
Leopold St |
Leopold St |
Leopold St Werk-en-rust |
Leopold St Werk-en-rust |
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John St Werk-en-rust |
Brickdam Cathedral |
Camp St |
Middle St |
Laluni St Queenstown |
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Vlisengen Road |
East Coast highway |
Lilliendaal |
1st Street Cummings Lodge |
UG access road |
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Photos taken on
Friday December 2nd 2005. |
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the following photo today November 2nd to show that these canals are yet not
cleaned. |
These shots
were taken at the junction of Belair village and the embankment highway |
Looking north
at the Belair village junction. |
Cows in water
on the Saint farm, Sophia |
The Chinese
donated and built convention center at Turkeyen. |
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Saturday
December 3rd, 2005 |
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Here we
go once more, just as I had predicted. Because of the neglected canals once
more, we are at the verge of another major flooding, already
properties on the East Coast are under water. I got a call from a friend who
lives in Success yesterday and his bottom flat was flooded since yesterday.
For months I have been carrying the photos above which clearly shows that
the drainage and irrigation board and the city council had neglected the
lower east coast and now we the *%$# citizens have to suffer once more
because of the incompetence and eye pass these officials have for the
citizens of this country.
One of
the two pumps at Lilliendaal is not working and that one working pump simply
cannot handle this quantity of water as we saw in January of this year when
the entire east coast was flooded. In the name of God, surely these people
knew that this rainfall was coming, surely they could have ensured that both
pumps were in working order or at least back them up with one of the higher
volume pumps as they had done in January. I hold nothing back in saying that
I blame this directly on the head of the Drainage and Irrigation Board Ravi
Naraine who claims to have spent more than
eight
hundred
million dollars
1.4 billion dollars
cleaning canals on the East Coast, yet 99% of the canals on the lower east coast
have not been touched. Show us where you have spent the
eight
hundred million dollars 1.4 billion dollars that you claim has been spent and disclose the names of the
contractors who you gave these contracts to. This website is calling for an
investigation into this sad affair. |
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| Here we go
again, this is how it is this morning |
Water has taken
over the yard once more. |
I blame this
entirely on Ravi Narine and the Georgetown City Council's incompetence. |
I left this
section of the fence with the old water mark from January's flood |
Spot had to
climb to higher ground to avoid the water. |
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| A closer look
at my front yard, we will be using this area as a watermark as we did the
last time. |
GT&T
technicians working on a water logged cable at Lilliendaal. |
M&CC excavator
clearing weed and blockage from this major canal that flows to the
Lilliendaal pump. |
Somewhere in
there is supposed to be a main drainage canal for the Turkeyen/Cummings
Lodge area |
A next shot of
the blocked Turkeyen canal, the M&CC's excavator was cleaning this very
canal that we have featured above months ago. |
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| The Lilliendaal
pump station, as you can see one of the units is out of order. December 3rd. |
Both of the
Lilliendaal pumps were working today when we visited, Sunday Dec 4th, 2005 |
A decent flow
of water but not enough to drain the large area these two pumps are expected
to service. |
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This photo was
taken during the flood in January. DeSinco Trading Ltd saw the plight
of this little girl and a few months ago build her a spanking new 2 storied
concrete house. (Kaieteur News photo) |
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Removing
the Rajana construction madness. December 4th 2005 |
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Justice and better
judgment prevailed today, Sunday December 4th as the Georgetown City
Council commenced work to remove the sand and loom that was placed illegally in the canal situated at the junction of the UG
access road and the embankment highway. The decision to remove the blockage
caused by Rajana's illegal construction came one week after the webmaster of
this website Bryan Mackintosh and residents of the Lilliendaal protested the
two construction sites based on the potential danger that the
construction posed to properties and the livelihood of persons living near
to the two sites. On behalf of the residents of Lilliendaal and Turkeyen, we
wish to extend sincere thanks to Mr. Zaheer Abass of VCT's Evening News,
Mr. C. N Sharma of CNS-6 and the Stabroek News for taking the time out to highlight our protest
and plight. |
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| The operator
had to clean a section that was blocked |
This is only
temporary, they have to do a lot more work to bring this area into shape. |
The City
Council's excavator removing the offending blockage |
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City Council
slowly removing the mud from the canal close to the CARICOM Complex December
7th |
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| The signs says
it all, "Clear these canals now" |
Residents of
Lilliendaal showing their displeasure at the blockage of the canal in front
of their homes. |
C. N Sharma
came with his camera crew to cover and support the protest. |
Residents
taking the time to fight for what they believe in. |
Stabroek News
carried our protest on the front page of November 28th. |
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Update on the
Rajana construction fiasco for December 22nd 2005. |
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The
Georgetown City Council is slowly removing the Rajana debris from the canals
that were filled in by Cecil Rajana in his crazy wild west bid to build a
gas station over a canal at the UG junction and another structure across
from the CARICOM Complex.
The
removal of the mud from the canal across from the CARICOM Complex took
almost three weeks to complete and we are now happy to report that part one
of the Cecil Rajana construction fiasco has come to a complete closure.
There however is some sand and mud still to be moved from the other Rajana
fiasco site located at the junction of the Embankment highway and the UG
access road, this should be completed before the end of the year. Bryan
Mackintosh |
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| December 13th,
The Georgetown City Council in the process of removing the Rajana debris
from the site across from the CARICOM Complex |
The yellow
lines indicate where the canal will be dug. |
Victory!!! December 22nd.
This is how the area now looks after the mud and filth placed by Cecil
Rajana was finally cleared away. |
This is how
much faith I have in the 1.4 billion plus dollars cleaning and clearing
project taken on by Ravi Narine and the city council. |
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