THE National Water Commission (NWC), through the Ministry of National Security’s Community Security Initiative (CSI), has spent a total of $1.2 million to rehabilitate sewerage systems in the Matthews Lane community of Kingston.

The project began in December and was completed within approximately three weeks, and according to the security ministry, the rehabilitation work was in keeping with a series of activities to reclaim the community.

The ministry, through the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), has also completed work on the Donald Phipps Basic School, the only early childhood institution in the community.

Neville Graham, the security ministry’s director of communications and public relations, said after a recent tour of Matthews Lane, that additional rehabilitation work would not only be done in Matthews Lane, but would be extended to other communities including Hannah Town, Fletchers Land, Dunkirk, August Town, Waterhouse and Brown’s Town.

He said that through the programme, “fixable” problems within an inner-city community were carefully scrutinised and then addressed by referring them to the relevant agencies.

Graham added that the intervention in the communities of Brown’s Town and Dunkirk just began and a number of lots have been bushed, and derelict buildings have been demolished while others have been repainted.

The programme, said Graham, was “a collaborative effort to give back a sense of normalcy to communities, making sure that they enjoy the same quality of life that other people do”.

“The programme is not only geared towards fixing the basic infrastructure, but has over time created a bond between warring factions, generated parenting classes and interventions that speak to personal development, which provides a sense of hope,” said Graham.

Meanwhile, Bunny Witter, political caretaker for West Kingston, has expressed his appreciation and support for the work of the CSI.

“.For a community that has gone through many phases and cycles this project is welcomed wholeheartedly.

“When you start to reach out to people, [they] will see that someone cares about them and will in turn show that love,” said Witter. He added that through the programme, a sense of pride had been given back to community members and the continuation of this project would bring about “a new day”.