Massive technologically-driven Georgetown drainage improvement begins, paid parking over covered drains likely

Last Updated on Tuesday, 4 November 2025, 22:04 by Writer

President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday said Georgetown’s drainage system is set to undergo massive improvement with the technological mapping of the network that will ultimately see rehabilitation works and the addition of more pumps.

In an edited version of a meeting with top central and local government officials, he floated the possibility of covering a number of drains for use as paid parking by selected categories of persons. “In some of the main drainage areas, we can design covered drains that corporations, companies who are now utilising the parapets can pay a fee and use for parking so we’re looking at an entire ecosystem in a holistic way so that we can have optimal solutions,” he said.

The Georgetown City Council’s parking meter project was scrapped in 2017 by the then central government after weeks of large protests outside City Hall.

Everyday, there is little parking space in Georgetown and police do not rigidly and in fact selectively enforce no-parking laws.

Dr Ali said there would be a rapid assessment of all existing surveys and studies aimed at crafting a drainage development plan and implementation schedule. “The city has outgrown the capacity of those tunnel systems,” he added.

So far, he said his government has information on the design capability and condition survey of all drains, outfalls, and pump stations. Plans include constructing new pump stations as part of a new drainage plan. He said that plan would include a schematic of Georgetown’s drainage that would be developed from “modern satellite imagery” and data collected from LIDAR surveys that would be superimposed on other software to “give us the strong assessment for the best solution.”

Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, Lionel Wordsworth said condition assessments of the 12 main canals, 12 main sluices and 14 pumps serving the city had been already completed.

Commissioner/CEO of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, Enrique Monize said the commission has obtained high-resolution images and “we will be able to produce digital terrain models, elevation models to assist this process.”

The President said the sewage system would be modernised and would include the construction of a treatment plant. The raw sewage is discharged into the Demerara River near the Coast Guard outpost. Currently, the sewage system is overflowing or seeping into a number of areas of Georgetown such as on Robb Street and around the Guyana Post Office Corporation headquarters.

The President emphasised that all parapets must be cleared and levelled because many of them are overgrown and encumbered. “We are asking dwellers of the City to cooperate with the team as they seek to implement the first phase and that is clearing and cleaning of the parapets across the city,” he said.

Community consultations and meetings with stakeholders such as the umbrella Private Sector Commission, Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association will begin around November 10.

Dr Ali said a maintenance plan would be developed. However, no mention was made about countering littering and removal of street dwellers who often empty waste bins or eat donated food and discard the boxes and cups indiscriminately.

Public waste disposal bins are very often overflowing as they are not cleared periodically. There is little or no enforcement of the litter laws by the City Police, Guyana Police Force or the Environmental Protection Agency. Most city drains are heavily silted. Tonnes of plastic and other waste also litter the seashore and sea and river defence areas. Despite several government-led short-term limited clean-up exercises in Georgetown, the deep-seated problems of poor maintenance and lack of enforcement remain.

Georgetown City Engineer Colvern Venture welcomed the President’s initiative, saying “it will assist the City greatly in its mandate which we’ve been failing a great lot.”

None of the elected city officials was seen in the video of the meeting posted on the President’s Facebook page.

The President said the initiatives were not aimed at causing tension but creating an opportunity for a healthier and safer living. “We look forward to the full cooperation of all citizens in the City; those who live in the City, those who work in the City and those who visit the City,” he said.