More flooding likely in 2003, says Khan

WORKS MINISTER Franklyn Khan admitted yesterday that the country might be “slightly more vulnerable to flooding in 2003 than in previous years”, although the Ministry expects to spend close to $100 million on preparations for the rainy season.

Khan made the comment as he gave an update on projects being undertaken by the Ministry’s Drainage Division. He explained that a long and intense dry season coupled with the large number of bushfires on the southern slopes of the Northern Range would have a major impact on the Caroni water basin. Khan said flooding occurs when a river was unable to cope with the volume of run off and management of the river basins and the catchment of the river weighed heavily on, and directly impacted, on the severity of flooding.

The Minister said that various flood alleviation projects had been ongoing since the beginning of the year, the largest of which was the Caroni River improvement work. The main aspect of this particular project will entail excavation works from the edges of the existing section, and construction of an embankment on the south bank of the river at a cost $14 million. Work is expected to begin in two weeks. The second major project will be done in the El Carmen area, while tenders are being invited for projects which will soon be starting on the Guayamare River.

In the case of the Caparo river, which normally impacted on the flooding situation in the Chaguanas area, Khan said the Ministry had just completed a project to divert some of the outflow to the Honda River. “This project is about 85 percent complete, and it should be completed in the coming weeks ahead,” he said. The Works Minister conceded that current desilting works would not be enough to ease the threat of flooding, adding that “the ultimate solution there is is the construction of the Mamoral Dam, for which designs have already been completed, and is estimated to cost $110 million.” Funding for this project is still being sourced, he said.

The Ministry has been cleaning, desilting and grading several water-courses, as well as constructing embankments in St Helena, Kelly Village, El Carmen, Bamboo #1, Marabella, Cipero, Diego Martin, Arima, Biche, Mayaro, St Joseph, Arouca, Beetham and Toco. Khan said his Ministry was liaising with the Ministry of Local Government, which is responsible for cleaning minor water-courses and had also enlisted the help of CEPEP for some flood alleviation projects. “If we have a normal year of rainfall, with the amount of work we have been doing in drainage, I will be quietly optimistic that we would not see the catastrophe we had in November 2002,” he said.

Commenting on claims by Head of the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) Colonel Dave Williams that a lack of funds was hindering that agency’s preparations for emergency situations during the rainy season, Khan pointed out that, “NEMA is an emergency response unit, and only comes into action if a disaster takes place.” “If I do my work well and if God is good to us during the rainy season, there will be no role for NEMA later on, and I don’t want NEMA to jump the gun, they should be prepared for any emergency in Trinidad and Tobago,” Khan added. Khan admitted that he did not know what NEMA’s budget looked like or if “they were starving for funds” but he insisted that there was sufficient time for the agency to plan in the event of major flooding in October or November.