By ANDRE BAGOO Friday, August 13 2010

ONE DAY before the scheduled start of further river dredging works today, the Cabinet yesterday approved the establishment of a $30 million fund to support emergency dredging of water courses, on the advice of Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner.

“The Cabinet this morning approved an Emergency Relief Flood Mitigation Fund of $30 million to deal immediately with some of the flooding,” Warner announced at the post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday. “That fund is to be used to de-silt the outfalls of some of our major rivers from Diego Martin to as far as Cipero. Also, the funds will be used to clean water courses as well as to clean the drains in Port-of-Spain and San Fernando.”

“This is a first measure, and the dredging works will begin as early as tomorrow (today),” Warner added. “What we have to do is put short-term long -erm and medium-term measures. The immediate measures are to de-silt these outfalls and clear the drains of the city of PoS and Sando and if there is enough funding, Chaguanas as well.”

Warner did not elaborate on what control mechanisms will be put in place to oversee how the $30 million fund is spent, or how contracts and projects will be procured under the fund. The Works Minister called on citizens to have patience, and to help the State deal with flooding by reporting shoddy drains to his ministry. “Things are in train, and all that I ask is for some degree of patience if you can, because we shall eventually overcome the floods,” he said. “We have seen the damage; we are studying ways and means to contain the flooding; we have also said that we want a study that will solve this problem for us, once and for all, and I am to commission this study.

“In almost all of our road works we will have to pay attention to drainage. We realise that if you don’t put drainage, then the road is incomplete...If you can tell us of any shoddy work anywhere which would militate against the proper flow of water that would help us.”

He said there should be a greater collaboration between the Ministry of Works and Transport and Local Government to tackle the issue. “With the recent installation of these regional corporations, it has to be a collective effort; all of us has to play a part in solving this problem of flooding.”

Warner said the impact of dredging announced earlier this year has appeared to be negligible.

“We are yet to see the effects of that — if you see the mouths of some of those rivers you will ask yourself how is it that this country is not under water still. The water has nowhere to flow. The mouths of the rivers are all clogged with silt. Trees have fallen across the rivers, and have blocked several of them, WASA lines have caused some blockage.

“For example, with the Caparo river what began as a river ended in the sea as a drain. And in the case of Couva, we have not yet begun to find the Couva river. I say this not just to be facetious, but the case is grim.”

Asked how much has been spent on flooding relief by the State to date, Warner said, “It is difficult for me to quantify how much Government has invested because the investment has come from all kinds of sources at various times. I don’t think that the figures have been put together as yet, so it is not for me to say.” Warner said a Cabinet sub-committee on flooding and drainage will meet today at the Ministry of National Security to discuss several issues, including an evacuation plan for persons with homes in vulnerable areas.

“People build houses on the river reserves where you can’t do any maintenance and when the floods come they are the first to perish. And we are talking about evacuations for those people on the river reserves, people on the hillsides and also people who are caught in floods in Diego Martin, Port-of-Spain and Central.

“Right now we are identifying shelters throughout the country, but we have to tell them how to get there, who to call, what are the hotlines. These are the things we are working on,” he said. Press Secretary Garvin Nicholas said there was a need for better coordination of State communication, and this will be worked on. Of comments made by former Works and Transport Minister Colm Imbert on the need for prevention dams to deal with flooding, Warner said, “I will just say that if those things were to be done, why were they not done before?” Warner had no update on a possible replacement for the head of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM).

On the issue of the appointment of Finance Minister Winston Dookeran to act as Prime Minister, Warner, who has twice acted as PM for the year, said, “The PM did say that this shall be rotating and I have no qualms on that...I was lucky to get it the first time and I am fully supportive of it and I will give him (Dookeran) the advice that he needs. I will tell him that he will lose all his privacy over the next ten days. If he believes he is a private individual, I have news for him.”