Khan: Work on new dam begins in 2005

WORKS and Transport Minister Franklin Khan disclosed that construction of the Mamoral Dam will begin in the next fiscal year, and monies have already been allocated in the 2004/2005 Budget for work to start on the $110 million dam which will significantly reduce perennial flooding in Central Trinidad. Speaking with reporters after yesterday’s ceremonial opening of Parliament at the Red House, the minister said Wednesday’s flooding in Caroni, caused by the Caparo and Caroni River systems, would have been even more devastating were it not for mechanisms that Government put in place in the region last year. 

Explaining that from an engineering perspective the Mamoral Dam was “the ultimate solution to flooding” in the area, Khan said; “On the Caparo side, you know that we have always had problems in the Mamoral-Todds Road area because of the Caparo Basin. “We have completed design of the dam and this year’s budget would allow some work to start — engineering construction work. “We have to strike a delicate balance between some flooding upstream in the Mamoral area without sacrificing too much of expensive flood damage you would have to incur, if we do major dredging upstream Caparo River.”

On Wednesday’s flooding, the minister said, “we had constructed a major embankment structure from Kelly Village to St Helena and that has been virtually completed. The water did in fact spill over that embankment. “Initially, I thought that it had broken the embankment, but the fact was that the water spilled over the embankment. You can just imagine if we hadn’t constructed the embankment, how devastating the floods would have been.”