MEMBER of Parliament for Manchester North Western, Dean Peart, said he planned to complete all his constituency projects before retiring from representational politics “sometime soon”.

The fifth term MP, who hails from a family of politicians, said he was grateful for the $40 million constituency development fund which would allow him do the things he had promised his constituents.

The fund – which was increased from $3 million – is given to all MPs to develop their constituencies.

High on the list of promises is a juice extraction factory at Huntley, which Peart said was expected to be up and running in a matter of months. He said the remaining work included the electrical wiring of the building and the instalment of equipment.

Peart said the facility had been under construction for sometime now, but was not completed because of financial constraints.

“The money was very tight and when we (MPs) get $3 million a year, I had to pinch and pinch because you have so many other things to do,” he said.

Peart added that such a facility was essential as it would help to provide markets for the numerous cash crops that majority of the farmers in the constituency grew.

“A lot of people plant carrots, and vendors buy the large ones and the farmers dump the smaller ones. So, we want to buy all of that from them, bring it to puree stage, freeze it and sell it to large juice companies,” Peart explained.

As of this month, Peart said seeds, such as cherry, apple, guava and june plum would also be distributed to farmers.

Until these trees begin to bear fruit, Peart said the focus would be on cash crops, which were usually ready within three months. Additionally, he said the plan was to purchase from farmers in other constituencies.

Peart explained further that because mangoes would not grow in some sections of his constituency, he wanted farmers in South Manchester and St Elizabeth to plant number eleven mangoes, so that these could also be processed to make juice.

He said this was expected to generate income for the farmers and also provide employment for others.

“This will make more people go into farming. We will also employ some persons at the factory, and the profit we get back will be used to buy seedlings and fertiliser,” he told the Sunday Observer.

To further boost agriculture in the constituency, Peart said some farmers had been given goats and pigs to rear, while others had been presented with fertiliser.

Meanwhile, Peart was highly commended by residents for the good roads throughout most of the rural constituency. The MP told the Sunday Observer that while he was at the ministry of works, he ensured that repairs were done to the roads in sections, until most of the work was completed. Now, he said, only some interior roads remained to be repaired and that he intended to get them done.

However, on the sore point of access to piped water in several communities, Peart said residents in some communities may have to wait another two years.

He said there were a number of National Water Commission projects slated to begin this year, which would see hundreds of residents getting water upon completion. He explained that JAMALCO had started digging a well in Green Mount, but had to discontinue the project due to the downturn in the bauxite sector. However, he said the NWC had undertaken the task to dig a new well, which would take about two years.

“Water has always been a concern, but they had to do a study of the whole area in order to address the problem,” he said.

Peart said he had also focused a lot on education for young people, building computer labs in many schools throughout the constituency.

“I try to put a computer lab in schools and so we have a lot all over the place,” he said, adding that Jamaica National had assisted with the purchase of more than 40 computers for a centre in Greenvale, which would serve several communities in and around Mandeville. He said the centre was expected to be completed and ready for use as soon as he received the next disbursement of his constituency development fund.

In addition, Peart told the Sunday Observer that land had already been identified for the relocation of Mile Gully High school, and that JAMALCO had already handed over US $350,000 to prepare the site. He said he had been informed that the contract was now going to tender.

As for residents not seeing him as often as they used to in the constituency, Peart quipped that he was no longer able to be up and about the constituency now that he was “getting to be an old man,” hence his decision to retire “shortly” from representational politics.