DID: One of two Likas Lagoon ‘islands’ removed
Published on: Friday, November 08, 2019
THE Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) has removed one of two islands, and most of the second, from the Likas Lagoon, after receiving a Federal allocation for this purpose.
A DID spokeswoman said what remained of the latter would be transported away from this body of water next year once additional funding was available.
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“We are in the process of clearing some of the undergrowth which has formed on the boundaries of the lagoon,” she said.
She said the earth had been placed there per instructions from the Department.
“We created two ‘islands’ in the pond to improve the circulation and better manage the lagoon’s flood mitigation capacity.
“The ‘islands’ have helped to make the pond water noticeably less swampy.”
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She said the DID intermittently had the Lagoon flooded with sea-water to counter the formation of water hyacinths which hampered the agency’s flood mitigation efforts.
“There has been an appreciable reduction in the growth of this vegetation because of the salt content of the sea-water.”
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The spokeswoman was responding to a Likas resident’s misgivings who feared that the Lagoon was being reclaimed due to the presence of the islands in the middle of the Lagoon and excavators on its periphery.
She shot down the claim that the Lagoon was being developed, saying that this area has been gazetted as a “flood mitigation pond” and could, therefore, not be used to build shop lots or condominiums.
TAMMY of Likas wanted to know if the Lagoon might be slated for development.
“I have noticed that two mounds of earth piled up in the Lagoon and excavators on the edges of this body of water,” she said.
“Could it be that this area is quietly being reclaimed?”
She said it would be a shame for profiteers to tamper with the lagoon considering the lush greenery which had grown up on its banks.
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