Pomeroon River dredging contract awarded

National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) of Guyana, under the Ministry of Agriculture, and Gaico Construction and General Services Inc. have signed a G$569.3 million Pomeroon River dredging contract.

Ministry of Agriculture and NDIA expect that dredging the mouth of this river will provide significant flood relief to farmers, many of whom grow coconuts and cash crops. This will also allow various vessels to access the river at both high and low tides.

The Pomeroon River dredging contract was just one of many that the Ministry was awarding yesterday under its 2022 work programme.

Worth almost G$1.4 billion for a number of works across the country, these contracts include construction of irrigation structures and rehabilitation of flood embankment at Mara, East Bank Berbice, as well as empoldering of farmlands in the Upper and Lower Pomeroon River.

While offering remarks at the signing ceremony, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha said that these works, more so the dredging of the mouth of the Pomeroon River, are very critical projects. “You know the Pomeroon is prone to flooding. When those works are done, coupled with the continued block-drainage programme that continues this year, flooding in this area will be mitigated.”

The minister further noted that the government is also looking to have similar works done on the three main rivers in Region Five, namely the Mahaicony, Mahaica, and Abary Rivers. According to him, these works should commence sometime this year.