Work has started in the Penal area to repair five major breaches on a riverbank, and Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan estimates the project will cost between $10-$12 million. The work began on Saturday at the New Cut Channel and is expected to take a month.
The minister made the statement when he toured the Drainage Division South (Calco pump site), at Tulsa Trace in Penal. The area was affected by flooding about two weeks ago.
He said after "technical investigations," the five breaches were identified.
"We promised residents that once we have the engineering solutions to it, we will start," Sinanan told the media.
"Once these projects start, they remain ongoing because the workers may see other breaches that need to be repaired."
Sinanan toured together with the Minister in the Ministry of Works and Transport Richie Sookhai, director of the ministry's Drainage Division Katherine Badloo Doerga, and acting permanent secretary Ronald Alfred.
He said one challenge workers face is getting materials to the breach areas, because most of the materials must be trucked in and moved across the river as there is no access road to the breaches.
"It is not just about pulling the materials from the water back into the bank. We have to bring in materials that can withstand the pressures and forces of the water. So it is a major project. It will take some time, but we have the contractor on the ground," Sinanan said.
"There are different materials to be used, and the clay materials are put on top to lock the bank in place. People like to use works like 'desilt and dredging.' It is not as simple as some people think."
Sinanan said the ministry has had an aggressive ongoing drainage programme nationwide since 2018. This country has 14 pump sites, and all have to be upgraded. The ministry has been upgrading all the pump sites with the new modern high-speed pumps. He said work is ongoing at several sites, works had been completed on others, and tenders are out for the rest.
"Obviously, all cannot be upgraded at the same time. The programme was supposed to be for three years, but because of the pandemic everything got pushed back, as almost everything for the sites had to be imported and manufactured with specs," Sinanan said.
He said drainage are expensive projects, adding that some people question why the ministry does not fix the banks of the entire river.
"The cost to build the banks and clean the entire river might be the drainage's budget for three years, so we have to then prioritise areas. We are doing a lot of desilting as well as building banks in certain areas, upgrading the pumps, and widening rivers wherever we have capacity."
He referred to the drainage programme as a long-term "all-encompassing programme."
He cited global warming as a contributor to flooding, saying the "real downpour" of the rainy season comes in October-November.
"What we saw this year is at the end of April. The showers have been there and they are not easing up. We are getting a different weather pattern
