East, West Ruimveldt to see massive drainage works in two weeks

─ will bring immediate relief to residents

Residents of East and West Ruimveldt, which are prone to flooding, will soon benefit from improved drainage systems in their communities.

On Monday, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha conducted a walkabout in the communities, where some areas were earmarked for works to be executed immediately.

Councillor for Constituency 13, Trichria Richards lauded the government for its timely intervention in executing these works.

“I’m really happy about that and the changes that we are seeing immediately. This is an area that is prone to flooding. So, I’m happy that the minister came and the team will be out by next week. There is also going to be community participation where residents will be part of the cleanup, which will bring cohesiveness in the community,” Richards said.

Minister Mustapha explained that most of the drains in the area have been neglected for several years and are in deplorable condition.

“We will also engage the residents to do the manual cleaning and where there are needs for mechanical cleaning, we will have machines come into the areas to do these works.

“It seems that the city council has not been doing any work in these areas, all the drains they had to do works on… That is why we are not getting the water out of these areas to go to the sluices and pumps,” he added.

The National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) will be awarding contracts for residents there to conduct the cleaning of the drains.

“So, we can keep it in a way whenever there is heavy rainfall, the water can at least reach at the pumps and sluices so that we can drain the area,” the minister said.

He noted that the Ministers of Public Works, and Local Government and Regional Development will visit the areas to address road infrastructure, street lights, and other related issues.

Minister Mustapha was accompanied by NDIA’s Chairman, Lionel Wordsworth; Technical Advisor, Aditya Persaud; former Mayor, Patricia Chase-Green, and engineers of the ministry.