A front-end loader pushes debris from the channel of the North Gully in Montego Bay. (Photo: Vivian Tyson)

WESTERN BUREAU - Depending on who you ask, the garbage-strewn North Gully in Montego Bay hasn't been cleaned for between three and five years.

Residents put the last clean-up at about half a decade ago, but the St James Parish Council says it is closer to three years.

However, everyone agrees that the North Gully is filthy.
Now, the local authority, the National Solid Waste Management Authority and the National Works Agency have teamed up and will spend $1 million to clean the gully which often serves as the receptacle for excrement and solid waste.

Work began on Monday and is expected to be completed within two weeks.

Mayor of Montego Bay Noel Donaldson told the Observer Tuesday that the council has put up 50 per cent of the cost to clean the gully, the NSWMA supplied 30 per cent of the cost while NWA provided the remaining 20 per cent.

"The St James Parish Council has put up $500,000, we have received assistance from the National Solid Waste Management Authority in the amount of $300,000 and $200,000 from the National Works Agency - so in all we are spending a total of $1 million dollars," Mayor Donaldson said.

Over the past three years, residents who live in the vicinity of the gully have expressed fear that they will fall victim to a serious epidemic because of the insects and rats that call the gully home.

Debris has accumulated along the corridor of the channel and the stagnant water has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes which, residents say, leave their children with rashes.

Earlier this year, members of the community staged a demonstration along Williams Street to call attention to the dirty gully. After the protest, there was a war of words between Mayor Donaldson and the NWA about who was responsible for cleaning the gully.

In April, the council began to raise funds to clean the filthy water channel. Tubal Brown, the council's superintendent of road and works, had indicated at one point that the local authority had received $2 million in pledges. However, some private sector companies have not yet fulfilled their promise to provide financial help.

According to the mayor, there were just a few loose ends to tie up. He was confident that the companies would keep their word.

"To date we have not received any final word., but nevertheless felt that it was necessary and prudent, especially in light of the hurricane season, to do whatever we could from our level to ensure that the North Gully was cleaned," the mayor said. "So it is in that context that the National Works Agency and the National Solid Waste Management came on board as partners to ensure that we could get the job done."

After the gully is cleaned, Donaldson said, he would reopen discussions with Minister of Local Government Portia Simpson Miller about who has overall responsibility for the cleaning of the gully.

"The minister has indicated to me that she has shared our concern that in fact, this is a matter for the responsibility for the National Works Agency," he said. "But whichever way it pans out we, certainly from the level of the St James Parish Council, are not going to allow the North Gully to get back to the condition which pre-existed our taking office."

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