Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 21, 2009 News
More than $300M is slated to be expended this year in order to restore the integrity of the sewage system in the city.
However this development may be delayed to some extent as Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, has had cause to terminate a contract which should have already seen a supplier providing the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) with submersible pumps for this purpose.
The GWI earlier this year inked a US$422,560 contract with FCT Technologies Incorporated of Miami, Florida, for the supply of 28 submersible waste water pumps for the upgrade of the sewage system in the city.
According to the Minister during an interview yesterday, he was forced to terminate the contract because he was not satisfied that the contractor would fulfil his obligation within the stipulated time.
As such he noted that the contract for the supply of the pumps has since been re-advertised locally, in Trinidad and in Brazil. He disclosed that it has also been posted on the Inter-American Development Bank and GWI websites.
Minister Ali noted, too, that a civil works component of the pumping station has also been advertised, adding that the total cost of the project is likely to be in the vicinity of about $300M.
And while this investment will be put into effect this year, the Minister cautioned that “this would not be the solution for the sewage system in Georgetown.”
He explained that the project will simply provide a platform or a window of opportunity of about three to five years in which a holistic plan to address the complete rehabilitation of the system could be derived.
“We have already prepared a Terms of Reference for a holistic plan for the sewage system in Georgetown and that will be done next year through consultancy,” Minister Ali stated.
And to aid that intended project, the minister disclosed that already some health indicators have been identified which will be the basis for a study to improve the sewage system. According to the Minister, the University of Guyana would be awarded a contract to conduct the study to draw the correlation between the health indicators and the sewage system.
Public Relations Officer of the GWI, Rawle Aaron, pointed to the fact that working is ongoing to arrest problems with the sewage system which is overwhelmed by the increasing number of households utilising it.
Aaron had revealed that the system which was commissioned in 1929 was designed to facilitate 24 pump stations, but noted that only about eight pumps are currently working. As such he explained that the system’s ability to move sewage through the network is greatly impaired.
In addition, Aaron pointed to the fact that the failure of the system has been linked to the overpopulation of the city, adding that at construction it was intended to be utilised by a mere 20,000 households.
“The population in Georgetown has increased tremendously over the years causing the sewage system to become overworked. Coupled with the incidence of being overworked, there is also the situation of the system being aged,” Aaron highlighted.
And since the system is driven by gravity flow, he pointed out that when materials enter the system they can only move by gravity to the main chambers at which point the pumps activate.
However, misuse of the system has become a serious problem, Aaron noted. He disclosed that foreign materials the likes of dead animals, coconut shells, sewing machines, sanitary napkins and pampers have been constantly entering the system.
“I think that the system is seriously being abused. If persons are operating restaurants and they do not use grease traps the grease clogs up the system and prevents the gravity mechanism from working…So the actual waste does not get a chance to get to the area to be pumped out,” Aaron said.
As such he pointed to the urgent need for persons to be sensitised of the proper usage of the system.
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