Conservancy Adaptation Project critical to Guyana’s continued development - Minister Ramsammy
Stakeholders involved in the Conservancy Adaptation Project (CAP) met today and held discussions on the results and future investments for the 2008-2013 project.
The projects results include enhanced government knowledge and capacity to manage the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) and the coastal drainage systems as well as a US$123M package of investments critical for flood management.
Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy delivering remarks
at the workshop on the results and future investments for the
Conservancy Adaptation Project
Minister of Agriculture Dr. Leslie Ramsammy in his remark to the gathering at the Regency hotel, noted the importance of the project since Guyana’s development, he said, is largely dependent on, and is driven on agriculture.
“The fact also is that agriculture and everyday living superimpose themselves on each other because we live where we work and agricultural areas are also where people live”. Hence, the Minister pointed out that water management has always been critical to the success of agriculture, the development of a country and equally important for the quality of life of its people.
“If we are to look at it this way, we should look back at the 2005 flood when we saw how people’s lives were disrupted and livelihood were threatened, and we also saw how agriculture and therefore the overall development of our country was affected”.
Minister Ramsammy alluded to the fact that because of the 2005 flood more than 60% of Guyana’s Gross Domestic Product was affected.
To this end, he noted that Guyana must as a priority now focus on infrastructural advancement for sustaining its developmental path, but importantly for accelerating that path.
“Guyana has ambitions to be a high middle income country. I remember a long time ago in 1991 listening to Dr. Jagan as he outlined his own vision for Guyana that it is not impossible for Guyana to become a developed country, and that within the life time we can in fact emerge as a high middle income country.”
Today, the Minster said, Guyana is well on its way to reaching that ambition, but reiterated that the development of the country’s infrastructure is critical in the pursuit of that ambition hence the CAP is a good example of ensuring continued development.
A section of the gathering at the workshop
The Agriculture Minister also pointed out that the CAP also ties in well with the Ministry’s 2013-2020 strategic plan that will include components to build capacity for the use of technologically advanced equipment and methods for flood control management.
“There would be technology and tools that are not new, but have not been integrated into the capacity building programmes of Guyana, we have flirted with them, but we have not built capacity for their usage,” the Minister stated.
Another component of the Ministry’s 2013-2020 strategic plan will include modelling the prediction of flood which is an important area for developing agriculture, and developing the infrastructure of Guyana.
Minister Ramsammy said it is his hope that all these components can be achieved as they will all aid in taking the country into a different direction to accelerate development.
The Minister further lauded the efforts and support received from the World Bank towards the CAP which was designed to help Guyana adapt to climate change by reducing the vulnerability of the low lying coastal areas to catastrophic flooding.
The CAP, a Global Environment Facility grant of US$43.8 M, is a flagship project for Guyana and the Caribbean in applying modern technology to support a long -term strategy to reduce flood risk.
The project was subdivided into three components; pre-investment studies for engineering works, investments in specific adaptation measures and institutional strengthening.