Open tenders for de-silting works in Victoria, Mont Fleuri rivers launch today |10 May 2022

Class 1and 2 contractors are being invited as from today until Thursday this week to buy open tenders for de-silting works within four water channels in Victoria and two in Mont Fleuri to improve the flow of water during heavy rain.

It was principal climate adaptation officer in the department of climate change, Jean-Claude Labrosse who launched the tender during a press briefing held at the head office of the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment, Unity House, yesterday afternoon.

The remedial works to improve the flow of water will be done one differentchannels in Victoria: La Poudrièreriver which flows next to Cable & Wireless, the St Louis River which passes next to the Victoria Gymnasium, the MaintryRiver that passes next to the Camion Hall and the Moosa River that passes next to the Happy Youth Club. The Mont Fleuri channels comprise the Rochon river that passes near the Mont Fleuri police station and the Quebec river which flows near the Mont Fleuri primary school.

The decision to clear all the different water channels followsdiscussionsby the high level committee chaired by President Wavel Ramkalawan to carry out mitigation projects after the recent flooding caused by heavy rainfall, in the two areas of Victoria and Mont Fleuri - Corgat Estate in early March this year. The high level committee brings together various ministries and agencies.

The climate change department is being assisted by the Land Waste Management Agency (LWMA) and the Seychelles Infrastructure Agency (SIA) in the realisation of the project.The two agencies were represented at the press briefing by their chief executives ‒ Sheils Barra and Jitesh Shah respectively.

Mr Labrosse said that apart from de-silting works within the water channels, the scope of work for the contractors will include starting as far as from the top of the rivers down to the lagoon, will also include the removal of vegetation, debris and old un-used structures found. All the works will be carried out during low traffic movement, at low tide during the week and at weekends to minimise inconveniences during the operations as heavy machinery will be used.

As there is no place near the rivers, especially in Victoria, to stockpile the siltsonce removed, it will be transported for stockpiling in an area on Ile Perseverance for use in other projects and also at Corgat Estate for embankment works of the RochonRiver.

Meanwhile, Mr Labrosse is calling on the general public, especially residents living near areas where the works will be conducted as well as motorists, to give their full cooperation during the exercise so that the work can be carried out smoothly and be completed within the anticipated one month’s time frame.

“Everything is in place to start the project. The project has been compiled and as of tomorrow (today) tenders will be advertised and go on sale tointerested contractors,” Mr Labrosse said.

He noted that the timeframe for selling of the tenders has been shortened as they want to move fast to complete the project as soon as possible. The open tenders are on sale at the Procurement Oversight Unit, Maison de Mahé.

Mr Barra said although the LWMA has been mandated to oversee the maintenance of rivers, they have left it to the climate change department to carry out the project as they were already in an advanced stage. He noted that the LWMA will take over after the de-silting work is completed. He added that the agency has a de-silting programme in place to monitor and to remove silt when necessary.

According to Mr Barra, the LMWA has also started to conduct work to remove trees overhanging over the rivers and waterwaysand has also started to clean open roadside drains feeding into the rivers. He further said the agency is also in contact with owners of utilities, especially telecommunications cablesto relocate these as they also contributed in causing the recent flooding as they are hanging in the rivers.

As it provides technical support to agencies, Mr Shah said the SIA has designed structures to strengthen the degrading boundary structures supporting the sides of the rivers and that tenders for the works will be advertised in due course. He stated that the March flooding was a result of debrisespecially those from household that got stuck to structures in the river, thus causing rivers to overflow their banks.

To avert similar flooding situations, the public must take responsibility of their heavy household rubbish and dump them appropriately, the heavy oneson the dump site and the light ones in the litter binsprovided.

Patrick Joubert