Steps taken to curb flooding in Black Bush Polder – Minister Mustapha

Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, says measures are being implemented to address flooding caused by heavy rainfall in Black Bush Polder.

On Sunday, he toured the area, meeting with residents and farmers impacted by the flooding.

After hearing their concerns, he spoke to the media, explaining that the recent downpours have led to significant water accumulation in both residential and agricultural areas, affecting many people.

To tackle this, he stated that all watercourse heads leading from the drainage system would be closed off to enable quick draining of the flooded areas.

The Minister also mentioned that additional water pumps will be set up at Number 43 Koker. He has instructed the regional engineer to deploy five machines to aid in water removal, and similar pumps will be installed in various locations to assist with drainage efforts.

“In the meantime, GRDB, NAREI, and GLDA are going around to see what are the conditions, and losses farmers would have suffered. I don’t think rice farmers would have suffered any major losses. The cash crop farmers, however, are complaining that their crops are under water. We will be working to do an assessment to see what help we can give them,” he said.

Minister Mustapha stated that the pump stations and sluice gates in the Adventure, Eversham, and Number 43 Villages are working well.

“I have residents and farmers from Black Bush that will be monitoring the functioning and operations of the pump stations and sluices,” he revealed.

Minister Mustapha is hopeful that the setup will efficiently drain the area as quickly as possible.