A public awareness programme, aimed at reviving the highly polluted Kingston Harbour was launched Thursday by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA).
Titled "Kingston Harbour: Bring Back the Life" and with a logo that depicts a lively hub that is in part a tourist attraction, the programme will take the form of an educational campaign to sensitise Jamaicans, on the importance of a revitalised harbour.

It is particularly geared at those whose livelihoods depend on the harbour including fishermen, businesses, and shipping companies.

An Observer file photo showing a section of the Kingston Harbour.

"It is through this vital communications programme, that we will be speaking to all of Jamaica especially to those who are most directly impacted by the condition of our harbour, our fisher folk, our land-based businesses and shipping interests and all who would like to use the Kingston Harbour once again for fun and recreation and reap the economic benefits to be derived from this revitalised location," said Land and Environment Minister Dean Peart at Thursday's launch at the Jamaica Conference Centre.

Despite being the seventh largest natural harbour in the world and having a net worth of $30 billion annually, Kingston Harbour has been reduced to a collection basin of sewage and other refuse from large companies and scores of households around the capital. It is estimated that as much as 20 million gallons of raw sewage is channeled in the harbour on a daily basis - a direct result of the city's malfunctioning sewage plants.

In addition, seepage from the city's soak away pits filters into the Liguanea aquifer and then into the harbour as well as run off from the Riverton landfill that enters through the Duhaney River.

Agricultural chemicals enter through the Rio Cobre and it is estimated that as much as 1,000 tonnes of waste, including sludge, medical and solid waste, are deposited into the harbour by visiting ships and boats.

But despite its ill-health over the years, Kingston Harbour was once the pearl of the Caribbean - a premier port of call for cruise ships and haven for hundreds of tourists including some of the world's rich and famous who flocked our shores in their bid to escape the chapped lips and frost bites brought on by the harsh weather of the winter season in the West and North.

It was also home to some of the island's landmarks like the former Myrtle Bank Hotel and some of the finest beaches like the Doncaster, Sirgany, Gunboat and the Bucaneer beaches.

The harbour was also a prime recreational spot - a haven for beach parties and boat races.

Several programes have been launched over the years to stop the deterioration of the harbour among them is a joint initiative between the government and the International Development Bank that aims to, among other things, create a management and zoning plan to ensure the conservation of the harbour's ecology and to set up a scheme for assisting industries to improve the quality of effluent.

Plans are also underway for the construction of a sewage plant at Soapberry in Hunts Bay to treat raw sewage before it enters the harbour.

But on Thursday, head of the Urban Development Corporation Vin Lawrence said far too much time was spent on the planning stage of that initiative.

"As a country we have spent considerable time examining several systems, looking at specifications, trying to come up with the best fit, and trying to bite off more than we can chew at any one time by considering it a US$300-million project rather than breaking it into distinct and practical phases. In the interim, the harbour has steadily deteriorated," he noted.
Lawrence said the clean-up of the harbour was a process long overdue.

"We are pleased that not only has the importance been recognised, but positive action is now being taken," he noted.

"This should become a priority for each and everyone of us because of the benefits to be derived from having the harbour restored," added the UDC boss. "Conversely, failure to arrest and reverse this state of affairs will have deleterious effects on health and the economic viability of our nation."

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