The announcement was made by Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, during the 2026 Budget Consideration of Estimates and Expenditure on Tuesday.
He said the decision to acquire hydroflo and mobile pumps aims to address challenges associated with installing fixed pump stations.
“This will help us tremendously, and this will be more effective,” he said.
The agriculture minister explained that once the 2026 budget is approved, advertisements will be published for the procurement of these pumps, after which installation will begin.
Additionally, the minister reported that several pump stations have already been completed nationwide.
These include facilities at Barnwell, Adventure, Cozier, Andrew, Trafalgar, Montrose, Canal Number One, Liliendaal, Ogle, and Anna Regina.
However, several pump stations are still under construction at varying stages of completion.
These include:
- Meten-Meer-Zorg, 83 per cent completed
- Belle Vue to Goed Fortuin, 29 per cent completed
- Pouderoyen sluice/ pump station, 89 per cent completed
- A-Line pump station, 25 per cent completed
- Jimbo/Grove, 78 per cent completed
- Black Bush Polder pump station, 87 per cent completed
The minister noted that work at Meten-Meer-Zorg faced setbacks but is expected to be completed within the next two months.
He added that at Letter Kenny, the original contract was terminated due to performance issues. The project has since been retendered, and a new contractor is expected to commence works shortly.
To ensure projects are delivered within stipulated timelines, Minister Mustapha revealed that the ministry has taken firm action against underperforming contractors.
“In the last quarter of 2025, we wrote to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board and listed approximately 30 contractors that we don’t want to do business with anymore,” he said.
He added that these contractors were deemed delinquent in their engagements with the Ministry of Agriculture.
