Opposition United Workers Party (UWP) Deputy Leader Guy Joseph has criticised Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre and Infrastructure Minister Stephenson King for their management of desilting operations to prevent flooding.
At a UWP Press Conference on Wednesday, Joseph highlighted what he perceived as inequities and neglect in the current government’s approach.
The former Castries South East MP emphasised the critical importance of desilting, particularly in flood-prone areas like Bexon, and questioned whether the government’s inaction is due to budget constraints or indifference to the impact on residents.
“Is it that there’s no money for desilting, or does it not matter to this government if people’s homes are flooded?” he asked.
He contrasted the current administration’s performance with that of the previous UWP government of which he was part, noting that under the leadership of former Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, significant investments went into desilting efforts.
Joseph pointed out that areas such as Odsan have yet to receive the necessary desilting under the present Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) government.
The former Minister called for immediate action, saying that desilting should be a regular, ongoing exercise that does not need much planning.
He criticised the current government for not dealing with this important issue quickly enough, declaring that the former UWP government had historically invested more in preventing flooding and protecting communities.
Any third-party or user posts, comments, replies, and third-party entries published on the St. Lucia Times website (https://stluciatimes.com) in no way convey the thoughts, sentiments or intents of St. Lucia Times, the author of any said article or post, the website, or the business. St. Lucia Times is not responsible or liable for, and does not endorse, any comments or replies posted by users and third parties, and especially the content therein and whether it is accurate.
St. Lucia Times reserves the right to remove, screen, edit, or reinstate content posted by third parties on this website or any other online platform owned by St. Lucia Times (this includes the said user posts, comments, replies, and third-party entries) at our sole discretion for any reason or no reason, and without notice to you, or any user. For example, we may remove a comment or reply if we believe it violates any part of the St. Lucia Criminal Code, particularly section 313 which pertains to the offence of Libel. Except as required by law, we have no obligation to retain or provide you with copies of any content you as a user may post, or any other post or reply made by any third-party on this website or any other online platform owned by St. Lucia Times. All third-parties and users agree that this is a public forum, and we do not guarantee any confidentiality with respect to any content you as a user may post, or any other post or reply made by any third-party on this website. Any posts made and information disclosed by you is at your own risk.
You miss ah money dere ee? Smh
True talk …
Cousin Guy, we know as you are not playing with the money is a heartache for you. Remember you had your turn, the wall next to Happy Hour at Barre Denis which you promise the people was never done. Where is the money that was allocated for this project? Cousin Guy you will have UWP to lose the next election. We don’t want you anymore.
Finally! An opinion piece from Mama-Guy that I fully agree with! In support of his criticism, I would like to focus on one location on the western side of the highway in Bexon, 100 metres north of the Rambally gas station, where a culvert traverses the highway from west to east, towards the Cul de Sac River.
Half (or more) of the culvert is already heavily silted, and I have not observed any attempt to clear it for almost 15 years! To make matters worse, the WASCO water main partially blocks its western entrance; so that any deluge of 3 hours or more (as during Tomas) causes heavy flooding across the highway, rendering it impassable. The dimensions of the culvert are only 2 metres wide & 0.5 metres high along its heavily-silted length underneath the highway!
For the passage of Beryl, a few weeks ago, a desilting crew was observed at that location, arriving with a back-hoe, a mere 3 hours before the rains began. Their objective was to desilt an area of 3 cubic metres immediately preceding the western entrance of the culvert. Local residents clamoured for the crew to also desilt the stream 50 metres along its heavily silted bed before the entrance of the culvert, as they were fearful of a repeat of the heavy flooding which occurred during the Tomas disaster. Luckily for the residents, the crew acceded to their demands, because the ensuing rains from Beryl caused much flooding, but the level of the stream reached only 15 centimetres below the surface of the highway, BUT 20 CENTIMETRES ABOVE THE TOP WIDTH OF THE CULVERT! Disaster was temporarily averted only because rain showers lasted a maximum of 1 hour each time.
The Ministry of Infrastructure & the South-East Castries parliamentary representative should take special note that the stream cited is a confluence of a minimum of 8 streamlets handling the run-off from the heights west of the highway, from the Bexon Catholic Church to the Bexon Baptist Church. Also note that the hurricane season has only recently begun; and it is predicted to be very intense this year, because of “La Niña” weather phenomenon!
Well sir if you find they not doing work in your constituency you go ahead and put your equipment to do the work. Dont wait on the heavy roller he have alot on his plate
The st Lucia government will never get on top of the game with this river dredging and desilting regardless of which party forms the government unless the start implementing measure to prevent soul and land erosion controls and start enforcing it through out the island and make sure all road construction building construction quarrying and mining follow the rules by building retention ponds and silt catchment basins and make sure there is a silt fencing around the property that silt fencing around all buildings construction and road construction or road resurfacing
So until that day when measure are out in place to address soil and land erosion everything they do will be done in vain will some of their compadres with excavators get rich doing nothing but comess and believe been there done if l just remain in st Lucia I would be still thinking desilting the rivers over and over was the best solution