Crumbling Mosquito Hall seawall … Urgent action required to avert a catastrophic event – APNU

January 7, 2014, By KNews, Filed Under News, Source

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)’s Joseph Harmon, along with other members of the coalition yesterday paid a site visit to the crumbling seawall at Mosquito Hall, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD), and said that there needs to be an urgent session held to allow stakeholders to come together and devise a strategic plan of action.

Harmon said that based on observations, there are several sections of the sea defence structure in the locale that are crumbling and need to be urgently addressed.

APNU’s Joseph Harmon watches as a Works Ministry employee fills the gaping breach with sandbags.

According to Harmon, should the wall be breached and the coast flooded, it will not be a case of APNU, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) or Alliance for Change (AFC) supporters being affected, “all of us will be affected”.

Harmon said that ever since the budget presentation earlier this year, he had pointed out to the House that the amount of money allocated for emergency works was clearly not enough. He said that with the monstrosity of an erection that was recently built on the seawall as well as the sandbagging exercise earlier in the year on the lower east coast, he is quite certain that the money allocated for emergency works has already been utilised.

Harmon reported that during the visit, a couple of workers from the Ministry of Public Works were observed putting bags with what they said was concrete mix into the gaping hole in the seawall. He said that there were breakages observed at several points along the clearly brittle seawall.
The damage, he said, appeared to have been caused by erosion and high tides.

Harmon reiterated that there must be a special session where they can sit down and structure a response to the failing sea defences, while charging that “the Government needs to get away from the mentality that no good suggestions or recommendations could come from the opposition benches”.

The coalition, in a subsequent statement to the media, quoted Harmon as saying that the visit was done at the request of concerned residents, to inspect the crumbling sea defences in the area.

It said that after viewing the gaping holes and the crumbling sea wall, Harmon asserted that what he had witnessed was the result of systemic neglect and a lack of a structured national plan to deal with the nation’s sea and river defences.

The Member of Parliament opined that because of the neglect, the lives of the residents of Mosquito Hall are now in jeopardy and those persons, most of whom are fisher-folk, are now threatened by the very sea from which they earn their living.

“We are in a constant battle to protect and maintain the structural integrity of our sea and river defence structures, and to develop sustainable shore management systems to contain the ravages of the ever encroaching Atlantic Ocean and the PPP/C Administration is not doing enough to safeguard the lives and livelihood of the residents of coastal communities like Mosquito Hall, Mahaica.”

As a result, APNU called on the administration to “act now, so as to avert a catastrophic event”. “The nation’s sea and river defences are all in need of urgent attention.”

APNU further called on the Ministry of Public Works and all other relevant government agencies and departments to expedite repairs and the structural rehabilitation work to the Mosquito Hall sea defences.

Harmon was accompanied on his visit to the Mosquito Hall sea defences by Regional Councilors Shondel Hope, Ramrattie Jagdeo and Ronald Backer from the Office of the Leader of the Opposition.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Public Works in a statement yesterday said that two major contracts involving the rehabilitation of concrete river defences at Mosquito Hall/Lancaster were executed during the period 2011 to 2012.

“These works addressed problematic sections of sea defences which were undermined and frequently overtopped during spring tides.”

The Ministry said that in addition to concrete works, a total of 700 metres of eroded earthen embankment was rehabilitated and adjacent faÇade drains constructed for the storage and conveyance of overtopping discharge in order to reinforce the flood defence system.

It said too that during December 2013, a contract requiring the rehabilitation of a section of the earthen embankment and slope protection works in undermined areas was awarded to a private contractor. Those works commenced during December 2013 and are scheduled for completion at the end of this month.

The Ministry said that in addition to the ongoing contracted works, the Ministry’s Force Account Unit will be engaged in the execution of maintenance works in the area. It noted that major reconstruction works have also been scheduled for Mosquito Hall/Lancaster under its 2014 Capital Programme for certain critical sections.

According to the Ministry, designs are currently being finalised for projects involving the reconstruction of river defences in the area which will be advertised for public tendering during the course of this month.

The Mahaica area was recently included in a list of vulnerable coastal/ riverain communities specifically mentioned in the Ministry’s monthly spring tide advisory published in the local print media. There were no reports of flooding at the Mosquito Hall/Lancaster area during the recent spring tides period.