EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Poul Nielson will today visit the inner city community of Whitfield Town South West St Andrew, where the EU is funding some community upgrading projects.

Commissioner Nielson, who is visiting Jamaica to participate in the launch of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and 16 Caribbean countries, will also be looking at the progress of EU development projects in Jamaica.

The upgrading of sanitation facilities in Whitfield Town is a sub-project of the larger EU-funded Poverty Reduction Programme which targets poor communities and provides access to quality basic infrastructure and services in sanitation, water, health, roads and schools. The Whitfield Town Sanitation Project serves about 1,500 people in the community.

More than 60 per cent of the households in Whitfield Town, one of the poorest and least developed communities in Kingston, are without access to piped water. Social problems in the community include numerous school dropouts, high incidence of teenage pregnancies, high incidence of crimes and poor waste management practices.