Governor says projects to blame

 GULF Governor Havilo Kavo says the flooding of rivers in the province is partly due to debris from several development projects occurring there.

“This disaster is caused because many of the tributaries that run into the main river are trapped by logs and ground movement created by the development activities,” he said yesterday.

He said the project activities carried out by the mining, petroleum and logging companies had impacted on the environment with flooding being one of the effects.

“The trees cut down and left out in the forest covered the creeks and rivers in the forest. The earth movements and sediment created by developers filled the river floors, causing the water level to rise,” Kavo said.

He said those factors disrupted the smooth flow of the water in the 14 river systems of the province and that had resulted in the disaster. 

“Therefore, I call on the developers in the province like Inter Oil, ExxonMobil and others to come good and assist the people affected by the floods,” Kavo said.

“The developers should assist the provincial government to help rehabilitate the areas and help the people affected by the flood.”

He said it was the first time for the province to experience massive flooding that had affected about 50,000 people, which was about half of the province’s population.