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– Canal residentsThere is a need for more operators and training is on going – Agriculture Minister (By Mondale Smith)After six months downtime, a new $78.2M pump was commissioned at the Stanleytown pump station on July 3 to assist in the draining of the seven miles long #2 Canal.Noting Minister Robert Persaud’s invitation for public monitoring of drainage and irrigation projects, villagers along the Canal Number Two Public Road have expressed concern that while there is a guard there is no permanent pump attendant at the Stanleytown facility.Recently,Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping, residents and farmers in the area have chided the authorities for not having a permanent pump attendant at the station which they said resulted in waters flooding their farm lands and destroying some of their cash crops. One of several cash crop farmers who reside along the Canal #2 walking through waters that he said came as a result of the pump not being turned on and the koker being closed. He estimates his losses of cash crop at close to $200,Cheap NFL jerseys China,000. Addressing the issue,Cheap Jerseys Outlet, the Minister stated that there is a general vacancy for pump attendants but he noted that training is ongoing to fill the present void.Persaud said that his ministry is also looking to the communities for personnel to be trained so that they can stand in as operators.Explaining the shortage, Minister Persaud said,Cheap Jerseys From China, “We’ve been firing and removing people so often that sometimes the CEO himself has to go and turn on pumps because people don’t turn up on time, hence pumps are not put on timely.”Amongst those recently fired was the attendant who manned the Stanleytown Pump station.As was the case with the De Willem Koker,NFL Jerseys China, residents found the amount paid for the construction of the pump station and the installation of the pump laughable since it is rarely turned on. Questioning the validity of the multi-million-dollar facility, they do not believe that they have gotten value for money.One resident told this publication “me house three times bigger than this thing and it nuh reach $6m to build.” He also noted that while the pump might cost a couple of million dollars “it can’t be so much…this $78m price really shock me so much that I got to laugh at the man who pay out the money and the man who oversee the work.”Offering a reason for the pump not being turned on often, Minister Persaud said engagements are underway to remove the squatters on the Stanleytown reserve since they are impeding the flow of waters to the pump.All of the residents spoken to by this publication said they are willing to vacate the land once they are given lands elsewhere. Some said they were issued notice to remove in 14 days by the NDC while others did not get any notice to do so.Meanwhile, according to the authorities in a July 3 statement, monthly works have been contracted out to clear Canals One and Two at a cost of $750,000 each.Kaieteur News recently visited the area and found that at least two miles of drainage works were completed and a dragline was parked on the reserve.When questioned about the last time such works were executed on the canal,NFL Jerseys Cheap, residents revealed that this was about three years ago.In high praises for the ongoing project, residents along the roadway expressed the hope that the drain clearing could be a monthly exercise to alleviate flooding.Sources close to the project told this publication that they had no choice but to halt the works because of the waters that had backed up in the canal due to the koker being closed and the pump not being turned on.