After parts of New Providence were flooded after heavy rains last weekend, Henry Moxey, senior engineer in the Ministry of Public Works, said yesterday that the government is seeking to make use of a number of tools to remedy the issue.

Moxey said part of the initiative is an “aggressive maintenance program” for wells and catch basins on the island, which is already underway.

He said efforts are underway to put in place drainage infrastructure in areas where drainage should have gone in ahead of development.

“The cart [was] put before the horse, but we are now putting the horse back in front,” he said.

Moxey stressed that there is an emphasis on finding long-term solutions, but noted that no single solution can address all the issues with flooding on New Providence.

He said the Ministry of Works is looking into the use of drainage wells, deep wells, retention ponds, ACO drainage systems, and tiger dam systems, among others.

Minister of Works Alfred Sears said work is already underway to drill a 600-foot well in the Pinewood area to help alleviate the historical issue of flooding in the community.

“We will be introducing for the first time, as Mr. Moxey said, the drilling in a pilot area of Pinewood of a 600-foot well. The only agency [that] has experience with that … is the Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) at their Gladstone Road water treatment facility,” Sears said.

“… So, that is something [that] we have never applied in the civil design of drainage, and it will be piloted this year.”

Sears said additional contracts will also be issued for the drilling of wells in other areas, and parks and other open spaces will be used for the purpose of drainage.

“What will happen is the designs that have been described this afternoon, the ACO system, will be installed under a number of open spaces,” he said.

“Some of those open spaces are parks, basketball courts. It will be a period of disruption for a period because the infrastructure will be installed underground and then resurfaced.

“So, the park will have the same function and you will have an infrastructure under the park for the collection of water.

“And then, you will have the installation of this Wapro valve system, where you will have in the wells this valve, so that during periods of high tide or king tide … that valve will regulate that process, so that the high tide does not come up to the surface but it allows the rain water to go down.”

With more than 12 inches of rain falling in less than 24 hours on New Providence last weekend, entire communities and roads were underwater, bringing to the forefront concerns over the island’s resilience in the case of major weather events.

Sears said New Providence is still suffering from its historical lack of proper city planning.

“It is time that we take a more comprehensive approach to the issue of flooding,” he said.

“Nassau, New Providence, where we live, is an unplanned city. … We are now trying to rectify as we seek to mitigate.”

Sears said a holistic approach is needed, as he said the building code in The Bahamas is being strengthened.

“We have assembled a team to look at our building code to see how we can strengthen the building code for the new threats that we are faced with, so there can be even greater resilience in the built environment,” he said.

Sears said people should no longer be allowed to build on wetlands, and noted that a land use plan for New Providence will be published.

He said that changes may be made to the Planning and Subdivision Act, and legislation is being put forward to use third-party inspectors in the construction of large-scale commercial and subdivisions where the Ministry of Works’ resources may be insufficient.

The minister said work will also be done to help address the issue of roads being quickly deteriorated due to flooding.

“Some of those roads will be elevated. And I understand now … that the technical standard being applied is to elevate the roads up to five feet and in some cases, six,” he said.

“So, what we are doing is taking a systemic approach involving these new methods of drainage, also the re-engineering of some of the roads.”

Sears said the time has come for “concrete commitment” to addressing these issues.

“We know that there is more likely to be more severe hurricanes rather than less and, as best we can, we have to prepare for it.”

He added, “What we are proposing now with these measures, it’s a three-year projection. And beginning with this [upcoming] budget, we will have funding in there to get us moving on this path.”

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