The Real Spring Housing Development in South Valsayn, the centre of a major flooding incident in October 2022, is being given some priority ahead of the rainy season.
This, according to Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen, who, in order to alleviate the fears of residents in the area, is promising to take matters into her own hands.
Speaking during a site visit to Bamboo #2 on Friday afternoon, she emphasised the urgency of addressing flood risks.
“We had visited with the engineers, and they know what is required. They have to build the bank. So while in the past, that area was really a kind of retention area for a lot of water, overflow water, and because it’s now a developed area, I have proposed the idea of using the former rice lands south of the watercourse there as a holding bay, as a sort of natural retention pond.”
She added that the Ministry of Works, under Minister Jearlean John, has committed to addressing major watercourses, including those affecting Real Spring.
“In the St. Augustine constituency, you have the Real Spring HDC Development and the Oropune Gardens. Both are in former agriculture areas, low-lying lands, and both require to be secured with banks, pumps, and sluice gates. In the Oropune, we were able to get some of those things installed.”
Minister Ameen confirmed that inter-ministerial collaboration is already underway to fast-track engineering solutions.
“The Real Spring development is newer, and they also need similar mechanisms installed. So we will be working. I’ve already had conversations with the Ministers, of Works, the Minister of Housing, so that they could get their engineers on the job.”
The flood mitigation strategy is part of a broader, multi-agency effort that includes the Tunapuna Piarco Regional Corporation. Its Chairman, Josiah Austin, highlighted the scope of the initiative.
“So we’ve started on Monday with an assessment of all flood-prone areas, and on Tuesday, we had an exercise at the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government led by Minister Ameen, a flood mitigation programme, and we’ve started in the Frederick Settlement area, and now we are in the Bamboo #2 area.”
Minister Ameen said it is the government’s intention to reduce flooding, noting other medium and long-term measures that will be implemented, such as retention ponds and infrastructural projects that fall within the Caroni and South Oropouche River Basin Study.