Noor Mohammed: “Voters should also listen to smart policies”

Suriname’s Minister of Public Works Riad Nour Mohamed said people should choose their political parties carefully and not joke around.

“That is why we have to choose political parties and not clowns. We need to stop what is happening with all those DCs and ministers screwing up. So voters must also listen to smart policies and choose smart policies,” Noor Mohammed said ahead of the start of the Council of Ministers (CoM) meeting on Wednesday.

He talked about the changes in the permit requirements for subdivision projects. During the previous government, many things were not handled properly. As a result, many subdivisions suffered from waterlogging every time it rained. Now the permit requirements have been changed to require the height of buildings to be one meter, and the subdivision plan should also regulate drainage.

The minister said that the unprecedented heavy rains in July showed that the weather in Suriname had become almost unpredictable. At the same time, precipitation is now three to five times more than before, which means that culverts and drains take longer to drain.

“We have to pay more attention to weather forecasts now, as is the case around the world. We also have to become more critical as a society and take some measures ourselves to be prepared for things like this. It’s true that there is a lot of flooding everywhere, but the water will recede. But the difficult thing is that you have to walk under the water before it recedes. But the damage is already done,” said Noor Mohammed.

He added that primary, secondary and tertiary channel retrievals are also important. However, the OW does not have the resources to collect tertiary channels, which are the normal drains of houses. That is why he called on people not to wait for the OW but to do something themselves in their own environment. “If there is a bottle or a blockage, fix it. The workload is not huge. We need to do those primary channels but we lack the resources there. You see, we have only done a small part because we don’t have the resources this year,” said the minister.

Unfortunately, he can’t do anything about construction projects that have gone wrong because the areas were never ready for construction. “I can’t do anything about it because they were built the wrong way. Period. Either you build a pumping station there to pump the water somewhere, or you have to move the whole area. But there’s no point in fighting the water. Europe can’t fight the water. Neither does Dubai, the United States, Brazil. Countries that have everything are also flooded…even worse than Suriname,” the minister said.

OW pursues policies in the context of climate change. He refers to the renovation of pumping stations and the repair of defective locks. The river and sea walls of Saramacca and Commewijne are also being upgraded. The third is water management, but according to Noor Mohammed, this comes at a high price.

“Increasing capital is what we are doing now. Things that have never happened before are happening now. Are you going to watch and film it as well? Show people what is happening. You are not just there to collect complaints. That is of no use to me. Provide information to the people of Suriname as well, because people need to know what is happening,” Noor Mohamed told reporters.