MORE than 6,000 residents in the Norwood, Flankers and Whitehouse communities in Montego Bay are expected to benefit from the multi-million-dollar clean-up campaign that was launched by the Community Organisations for Management and Sustainable Development (COMAND) on Thursday.

In addition, COMAND chairman, Dave Allen, said the Montego Bay Marine Park, fishermen and other users of the sea as well as workers who travel the Flankers to Montego Bay main road would be among the beneficiaries.

The campaign, which Allen said would run into millions of dollars, will see:

* the staging of a series of community meetings geared at educating people about healthy environmental practices;

* construction of berms along the Mango Walk to Norwood Square to secure the earmarked playfield and preserve what is left of the Norwood Forest;

* planting of 1,500 fruit trees and ornamentals;

* construction of a community playfield; and

* removal of abandoned, derelict motor vehicles in the targeted communities.

The funding for the project is not yet in place but Allen said it was a campaign that would depend in large part on the volunteerism of the communities. He said there was little doubt in his mind that the campaign would be successful.

“People are now making a link between their livelihoods and the environment. We have an enlightened population,” he told the Observer.

“What we need now is a catalyst to sustain the drive to start to take a more proactive role in preserving it and I believe that this campaign initiative can be that catalyst.”

Allen said the campaign is also geared at:

* strengthening community institutions, particularly the Norwood Provident Society; and

* encouraging the Western Parks and Markets and the Public Works Department to remove the debris collected in order to remove the temptation to use the compiled heaps as garbage dumps.

“With the launch of this project we will be able to eliminate the loss of manhours in the workplace. We will be able to remove the threat of diseases borne by mosquitoes, the fetid stench of rotting garbage and animal carcasses which in of itself poses serious health risks,” a release from COMAND said.

“The planting of trees will be a step in the right direction of arresting soil erosion, which causes the sedimentation that currently affects the Norwood Gorge and the low-lying areas of Flankers and beach in the Whitehouse community.”

And with soil erosion and sedimentation effectively curtailed, COMAND said the integrity of the Sangster International Airport wetlands and the bio-diversity of the Marine Park would be preserved.