Collapsed sea defence at Mahaicony sealed

The Ministry of Public Infrastructure on Tuesday announced that the breached sea defence at Dantzig, Mahaicony, East Coast of Demerara has been fixed –three weeks after it collapsed threatening hundreds of acres of farmlands.

In a statement, the Ministry revealed that the rip rap sea defence structure was done to seal the dam using 5,000 tonnes of boulders.

According to the Ministry, Chief Sea and River Defence Officer, Kevin Samad explained that his department encountered some challenges due to inclement weather, however, he said measures will be taken to address the challenges when the rainy season ends.

Minister within the Ministry, Jaipaul Sharma visited the area on Monday where he noted that the remedial works are presently 75% complete.

The remedial emergency works are being done by A & S General Contractors Inc.

The Minister assured farmers and residents that the Sea and River Defence team is monitoring the area on a daily basis to prevent consequential flooding.

The News Room visited the location on July 6 where farmers had expressed fear that they will suffer millions of dollars in losses if the breach is not fixed in a timely manner since salted water from the Atlantic Ocean was already entering their fields.

In order to temporarily address the problem, the Ministry had deployed two long boom excavators to the location to assist rice farmers to reinforce dams around their rice fields to prevent intrusion.