East Bank Demerara residents to benefit from new pump station at Craig

To mitigate flooding in many farming areas while increasing food productivity, residents along the East Bank corridor will soon benefit from the construction of a pump station at Craig.

On Friday last, a contract worth approximately $1 billion was signed to execute the project.

The disclosure was made by Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha on Saturday during the commissioning of the $497.4 million dredge at Little Diamond Sluice, East Bank Demerara.

“I went to Craig since the entire East Bank said that they had to wait for tidal drainage, as they needed 24-hour drainage. The drainage capacity needed to improve. When we were planning our budget for this year, we put in our budget to build a brand-new pumping station on the East Bank of Demerara. And that is about $1 billion. This shows how we are responding to the needs of our people,” Minister Mustapha relayed.

As part of Guyana’s food security aim, farmers countrywide continue to benefit from the construction and maintenance of new and existing drainage systems, farm-to-market roads, among other interventions.

Minister Mustapha explained that, “Over the last three years, we have purchased and fixed 28 new pumps across this country. That is a monumental achievement for us. We have nine pump stations being built across our country.”

The minister noted that flooding has been mitigated tremendously in the Diamond area.

Recently, for the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) to execute rehabilitation works on existing drainage systems in Region Two, an additional $2.5 billion in funding was approved.