$200 million for four new water projects
CABINET yesterday approved $200 million four new water projects, as government moves to fulfill its goal of providing potable water to all by 2005.
At the same time, Water and Housing Minister Donald Buchanan, who made the announcement at the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, said his ministry “will be unrelenting in demanding that all and sundry who receive water, pay for it… whether they are in Tivoli Gardens or Arnett Gardens…”
Buchanan told the Observer that $1.8 billion was owed to the National Water Commission (NWC), which he said has been holding community forums to sensitise customers of the need to pay their bills.
“We are also cutting off service to persons who fail to meet their obligations,” said the minister.
The four projects and the contractors selected are:
* Huddersfield – MangoValley/Fellowship Hall Water Supply Scheme, awarded to Beaverdam Construction Co Ltd in the amount of $23, 589, 850.00.
* North Coast wastewater distribution, lot connection programme and low pressure sewer system, awarded to M & M Modern Sewer & Drain service in the amount of J$29, 277, 125.80.
* Kingston Water and Sanitation Consultancy Service for engineering and feasibility studies, awarded to Haliburton KBR in the amount of US$2,644,525.00.
* Jamaica Water Supply Improvement Project Consultancy Contract; awarded to Montgomery Watson Harza (MWH Americas, Inc.) in the amount of US$310,000.00.
The minister of water and housing said that the proposed works on the Huddersfield-Mango Walk/Fellowship Hall water supply scheme in Western St Mary would benefit 2,000 citizens.
And he said the north coast water project included the connection of customers to the central sewerage systems in towns of Negril, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios whose properties cannot otherwise be drained by gravity.
The minister said that the Government had requested technical and economic assistance from agencies such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to develop a comprehensive programme to improve the efficiency of the National Water Commission (NWC) and to rehabilitate the potable water distribution system as well as the wastewater collection and treatment facilities for the Kingston Metropolitan Area.
The IDB, he said, responded positively to the government’s request and that an engineering firm is to be selected by the NWC to provide engineering services to develop a technically, economically and financially feasible development in the Kingston and St Andrew area.
Last July Government said the Ministry of Finance had assumed responsibility for $6.5 billion of the NWC’s debt, and ordered a management audit of the commission’s operations, while stressing the need for efficiency gains.
But yesterday Buchanan said he had not yet received the audit being conducted by KPMG management consultants. Nevertheless, he noted that the Haliburton contract was geared at “developing a comprehensive programme to improve the efficiency of the NWC” in an attempt to achieve efficiency and he insisted that the commission would go after delinquent customers.