Guyana grappled with an unusually long dry season in recent months and now that the annual May-June rainy season is unfolding, Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha has assured Guyanese that drainage pumps are all operational.
Mustapha also said engineers from his ministry are monitoring the pump system on a 24-hour basis.
“We have moved pumps when we had the dry weather to do irrigation and now they are moving back to the drainage canals and we are putting them in place,” Mustapha told reporters at the sidelines of an event on Wednesday.
Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha engaging reporters (Photo: News Room/ December 19, 2023)
He, however, explained that many of the outfall canals are being desilted. This is necessary work since those canals became filled during the dry season due to lower-than- normal rainfall levels.
With desilting now being done, Mustapha believes it will be completed before heavier, more frequent rains arrive. There is also active engagement with the Ministry of Public Works as ongoing road works may have blocked up some canals.
“We are not having the kind of rainfall that can flood us right now, so I am hoping it can keep at this stage until we have all the systems in place but we are putting all the systems in place as I am speaking,” Mustapha said.
In Georgetown, which is managed by the Mayor and City Council, Mustapha said pumps are also operational and being monitored. So he believes there is enough preparation for the rainy season ongoing.