Maintenance Project for Riley River in Lucea

A collaborative routine maintenance programme has been established for the Riley River in Hanover, as a short-term solution to addressing the issue of regular flooding in the parish’s capital, Lucea.

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, said the programme will be led by the Hanover Municipal Corporation, with support from the National Works Agency (NWA) and the Forestry Department.

“We’ve seen clearly that there are some maintenance issues, and beyond that, there are some longer-term issues that will have to be addressed. The river itself will need some amount of desiltation and we will need to ensure that the invasive bamboo species [are] not allowed to enter the river in the way that it did, that triggered the most recent floods. There will have to be a maintenance programme in the area,” he emphasised.

The Minister was speaking to journalists on Thursday (September 8), following a tour of the Riley Bridge and sections of the Riley River with State Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister (Western Region), Hon. Homer Davis, and representatives from the NWA and Forestry Department.

“Working with the team from the [Hanover] Municipal Corporation, the NWA and Forestry Department, we will have to put in place a collaborative maintenance programme to ensure that the bamboo doesn’t become a hindrance or a danger in the way that it did,” he said.

Mr. Samuda also voiced concerns about the construction of houses in close proximity to the river, stressing that this poses a threat to the environment.

“I have seen the residents who live a little too close to the river. I believe that the area is unsafe, and we will be discussing with the Prime Minister what options are available to us. It’s also bad environmentally to have effluent discharge into any sort of waterway… with people living within such close proximity to the river; and the reality is, they’re in danger. So, we have a lot of work to do, going forward,” the Minister said.

For his part, Mayor of Lucea, Councillor Sheridan Samuels, said funding has been allocated to commence the routine maintenance programme.

“We contacted our [Local Government and Rural Development] Minister, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, and a certain amount of funding [was] allocated to deal with the maintenance programme. Presently, our Chief Engineering Officer and the Manager of the NWA are working together,” he said.

Councillor Samuels further advised of plans to conduct desilting of the river, noting that a buildup of silt is also causing the waterway’s banks to overflow.