The State Secretary of Public Works, Luis Vaz Rodrigues said the project to channel the waterway in Colmera is not right because it should not be channelled in the middle of the road.
“Since the water flows to the sea, we should see which is stronger; the sea or the waterway,” the State Secretary of Public Works (SEOP), Luis Vaz Rodrigues said at the National Parliament.
Rodrigues said channeling the waterway in Colmera is not right, as the sea is stronger than the waterway.
“We will have a look,” he said.
Member of Commission F (infrastructure, transport and communication affairs) MP Paulino Monteiro said when there is heavy rain, the tide rises in the area of Colmera as the waterway is very low.
“We used to see in 1972 the tide rose level with everything,” said MP Motnteirpo.
He said the tide is about to rise for the rain washes the land on the mountain and takes all to the sea.
“We don’t have a machine to scoop the sand in the sea to use it to build up the land as we did in Portuguese time,” he said.
According to technicians, each year every house in Dili sinks two centimeters.
Therefore he suggested to keep scooping the sand to fill in erosion-affected areas in order maintain the level of the land.
Deputy President of Commission E, MP Inacio Moreira said he was disappointed as the project was planned by SEOP, who now criticized it as being unable to handle the rainy season.
“We MPs are not the ones to explain about the technique; you’re who designed, you’re who made the decision and now you say that it’s in danger,” said MP Moreira.
The MP said when the Commission F held monitoring in the place, the contractor and the Minister of Public Works said the work would last for 20 years.
“But I wait if it’s not until 20 years then some water rises in Colmera they must be accountable for it,” he said.
Moreira called on SEOP to identify who had given the instructions for the implementation of the project.
“We have just discovered that the things done by them aren’t in accordance with the plan; they didn’t make a study before implementing the work,” he said.
The budget for the project is over $1 million.
