Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, announced that the government has allocated $50 million to assist the National Water Commission (NWC) and the Municipal Corporations with the trucking of water, up until the end of the 2022/2023 Financial Year.
Noting that the island is currently experiencing meteorological drought, Minister Samuda disclosed that the decision followed a recent meeting with Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, during which he instructed that an analysis is done to determine the areas with the greatest impact by the current lack of rainfall.
“He asked that we design a trucking programme to support the areas most impacted in partnership with the NWC and indeed the local authorities and that we give some support that carries us up until the end of the budget year”, the Minister disclosed.
Stating that Jamaica is no stranger to the impacts of drought, Minister Samuda explained that during November and December last year, every parish received rainfall that was less than their 30- year average.
“Although the data for January is preliminary the trend appears to have continued, and in fact worsened. We had expressed a hope for greater rainfall earlier in the year. We have not received it, so I ask citizens to be very cognizant of how we use the water that we do have. We are asking for conservation, and we are asking for understanding” the Minister urged.
Minister Samuda was speaking today (Thursday, February 16, 2023) at the Commissioning of the 50-thousand-gallon Storage Tank Replacement Project, in York Town, Clarendon.
The project was completed at a cost of 22-million dollars under the NWC’s Tank and Pump Rehabilitation for Operational Efficiency Improvement Programme.
Six hundred residents of the mostly agricultural communities of York Town, Howells Content, Bullards Content, Hopewell, Parnassus, Denbigh Drive, Foga Road and Four Paths Settlement, are expected to benefit from the project.
The Minister committed that the NWC would continue to make investments in the community.
The NWC’s Tank and Pump Rehabilitation for Operational Efficiency Improvement Programme, involves the procurement of thirty-three (33) tanks at a cost of approximately $600 million.
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