KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The National Water Commission (NWC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the HEART Trust/NTA and Israel-based company, Miya, for the training and capacity building for its management and staff.

This is being done under the Kingston and St Andrew Non-Revenue Water (NRW) Co-Management Project.

The training, to include 150 personnel, is to ensure a highly skilled and dedicated non-revenue water management team at the NWC, to allow for the ongoing use of best practices after the completion of the five-year project.

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Dr Horace Chang, addressing the official signing ceremony at Jamaica House yesterday said the success of the programme depends on its sustainability through continued maintenance.

The Kingston and St Andrew Non-Revenue Water Co-Management Project falls under the Kingston Metropolitan Area Water Supply Improvement Programme that was started in September 2015 through funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The NWC, through consultant, Miya, aims to achieve NRW objectives and provide the institutional capacity within the NWC to sustain and improve the reduction achieved.

Non-revenue water is currently estimated at 59 per cent of the volume that enters the water supply and distribution networks.

Under this project, the proposed reduction of NRW within Kingston and St Andrew is expected to be 45 per cent in two years, moving to 30 per cent at the end of the contract.

“The consultant, Miya, has prepared and will implement strategies and actions that will ensure the improved performance and efficiency and maximisation of the income collected by the NWC,” Dr Chang said.

NWC President, Mark Barnett, said the training component of the project will produce a pool of highly skilled employees which will allow the agency to boast improved customer service delivery, as well as make a significant contribution to the water sector and to national development.

“This NRW Reduction Co-Management Programme is therefore not just a water supply improvement and a climate resilience and long-term drought response project, it is also a long-term training programme,” he said.

Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Dean-Roy Bernard, hailed the venture and commended the collaboration, which he described as a practical demonstration of the partnerships that the Government has been encouraging and which the ministry has been promoting among its agencies.

“This venture brings to the fore the creativity that is needed to provide education and training that are practical for today’s young people and relevant to economic development,” he said.