RAW sewage, collapsing hillsides, blocked drains and deteriorating roads have residents of Harbour View, at the city’s eastern end, worried. And they are crying out to the authorities for help.

The residents say their community, built in the 1960s for middle-class Jamaicans, is “under siege” and there is no one assisting.

“People are required to pay sewerage fees, yet for years raw sewage is being deposited in the sea,” Beryl Urquhart, president of the Harbour View Citizens’ Association, told the Sunday Observer.

“It is a perennial problem. “For over 20 years the treatment plant has not been working,” she said.

But even as residents grapple with the lingering sewerage problem, the hillside immediately behind the community, under pressure from squatter construction, is now collapsing, posing further threat to life and property.

Erosion of the hillside has directly affected houses on Southern Cross, Mars and Harbour drives in particular, knocking down perimeter walls and resulting in homes being flooded when it rains.

Overwhelmed residents are, however, fearful of speaking openly about the problem, which is attributed to squatting on the hillside behind the housing scheme. “If we say anything we are targetted,” one resident said.

Another, requesting anonymity, told the Sunday Observer that even a prominent church has joined in the “free-for-all” capturing of land in the neighbourhood.

“There are so many problems in Harbour View and, despite our many pleas, we are receiving help from no one,” Urquhart said, adding that letters have been written to the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) and the National Water Commission (NWC) among other state agencies.

The disgruntled residents say that without a treatment plant, raw sewage from the housing scheme is being drained into the sea adjacent to the St Boniface Church, posing serious environmental and health threats.

As the effluent from the housing scheme makes its way to the sea across the road, a large pond of raw sewage has now formed along the shoreline, periodically releasing its stench on the nearby church.

“We have serious health concerns as there is a basic school on the premises,” said Reverend Leslie Hosang of St Boniface Church.

Hosang told the Sunday Observer that the dysfunctional treatment plant, which is beside the church, also affects regular services.

“Depending on what direction the wind is blowing, the stench can be unbearable,” he said.

At the intersection of Harbour Drive and Florizel Glasspole Boulevard at the opposite end of the housing scheme, untreated sewage is also visible in an open drain leading to the Caribbean Sea.

Urquhart said that despite repeated pleas by residents to the NWC, the situation has grown worse.

“We have had a long battle with the Water Commission, but nothing ever happens,” said Urquhart, who has lived in the community for more than 40 years.

When contacted by the Sunday Observer, Joseph Hibbert, member of parliament for the area, said that a new sewerage plant is to be constructed in the scheme, but he was uncertain of a date.

“The problem is being addressed, and the Ministry of Housing is awaiting response on a tender for the construction of a new treatment plant,” Hibbert said.

Cleaning of drains and road repairs, Hibbert said, would commence in this new financial year.

According to Hibbert, the clearing of the hillside for house construction and cutting of unpaved roads are largely responsible for the erosion and blocking of drains in the scheme whenever it rains.

“We understand the situation there. we need to look at the drainage at those informal schemes,” Hibbert said.

The repeated and unregulated construction of squatter settlements, which has continued unabated for over 20 years, is now taking a toll on the hills surrounding the scheme, as well as the community below.

“Last year, after the heavy rains, a big piece of the hillside come down,” one distraught Harbour Drive resident told the Sunday Observer. “It came right over my wall; water and mud ran right through my house.”

Another nearby home completely lost its perimeter wall to the ravaging mudslide in October last year. “We are now trying to rebuild the wall, but it is costing us,” that homeowner said.

Scarred hillside immediately behind houses along Harbour and Southern Cross drives starkly reveal the dangerous nature of the problem, both for those living above and below.

The foundation of walls, houses and lightpoles in the squatter settlement above are clearly visible from the backyards below, as the hillside breaks away.

“It is a serious threat to everybody; no houses should be there as the soil cannot support it,” another long time Harbour View resident said. “There is no proper drainage up there.”

Hibbert told the Sunday Observer that a tour of the affected communities planned for a few weeks ago with Councillor Oliver Clue (PNP, Harbour View division) had fallen through.

“What I understand is that more houses are going up,” he said. “If there is more building, then we have to put a stop to that additional development.”

Harbour View is surrounded by the informal communities of Harbour Heights, situated on the hill immediately behind the scheme, Melbrook Farms, Bayshore Park to the west and St Benedict Heights to the east.

“We do try to maintain a good relationship with everyone,” Urquhart said, adding that some residents of the informal schemes are actually members of the Harbour View Citizens’ Association.

Another issue dogging the Harbour View residents is the stockpiling of material on lands in front of the housing scheme by the nearby Cement Company.

“Apart from being a potential health hazard, it is also an eyesore,” Urquhart said.

But Lystra Sharpe, public relations manager at the Cement Company, said that her company had always used the land for the storage of gypsum.

“We have always stockpiled gypsum at that location,” said Sharpe. “It’s a certified port. We ship from that port.”

Sharpe said that the problem may be attributed to the broken perimeter wall at the gypsum plant, which was damaged after Hurricane Dean in 2004. “Plans are underway to repair the broken wall,” she said.

The residents, in the meantime, are hoping for a resolution to the numerous problems they are experiencing.

“There are many things good about Harbour View and we would want to preserve those things,” said Urquhart. “That is why we are so concerned. We see the basic infrastructure being eroded and we want it to be contained.”