PINEWOOD MP Myles Laroda says he has been informed that construction works on a new drainage system for his constituency will begin shortly after the completion of a 600ft well for the area.

Plans for the drilling project were announced in May by Works and Utilities Minister Alfred Sears, who said his ministry was on an aggressive campaign to fix the drainage systems in flood-prone zones in the capital, including Pinewood Gardens.

“We will be introducing for the first time the drilling in a pilot area of Pinewood of a 600-foot well,” Mr Sears said during a press conference at the time.

“The only agency [that] has experience with that is the Water and Sewerage Corporation  at their Gladstone Road water treatment facility.

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

Pinewood has been prone to heavy flooding for years.

In 2013, then area MP Khaalis Rolle said a new drainage system for the area could cost the government as much as $13m.

He started plans for the new drainage system, however, the initiative was never carried out under the last Christie administration.

In August 2019, former area MP Reuben Rahming said more drains would be installed in the area, but warned drains are not a “panacea” for the issue.

At the time, he estimated $10m was needed to address the flooding issue in Pinewood — money which he said could not be allocated at the time.

When asked for an update on drainage plans for Pinewood yesterday, Mr Laroda, who is also the state minister with responsibility for disaster preparedness, said: “I spoke with the minister of works about the matter. Without a definite plan, I was told that once the 600 feet test well is finished, work should commence ‘shortly thereafter.’”

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