St Catherine Southern Member of Parliament Fitz Jackson yesterday raised concerns about the large housing developments being planned for the parts of the constituency despite the dire water shortage plaguing the Portmore municipality in particular.

He raised the issue at a meeting of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) of Parliament with the heads of the Water Resources Authority (WRA), the National Water Commission (NWC), and the Rural Water Supply Limited.

Making his point, Jackson referenced a newspaper op-ed penned by former WRA head Basil Fernandez in which he wrote that the proposed development of 17,000 housing units and light industrial and other construction works earmarked for the Bernard Lodge lands in St Catherine would: “lead to increased water demand, a decline in groundwater levels and storage, and the potential for seawater intrusion into the aquifer”.

The MP said there have been several proposed developments for much of the Bernard Lodge lands over the years; however, he said they have all been rejected by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), ostensibly because of the water challenges.

The issue needs to be resolved before the latest proposal announced by the prime minister gets off he ground, Jackson argued.

“Currently, in that (South St Catherine) plain, there is a shortage — Greater Portmore, Hellshire, all of that area has been suffering from water shortage for a number of years…Right now, as I speak, people who I represent can’t get water. It is a question of proper planning. We want houses, and we want water for the people who live in it,” he said.

Jackson said when developments are completed without a plan for adequate water supply, buyers will be left at an unfair disadvantage, and the supply shortage will only be compounded for existing residents.

As an example, he pointed to Sandhills Vista in Hellshire.

“The houses were built with the commitment that water will be there, and [now] everybody has to get black tanks because water was not delivered…That is the consequence of what I call bankrupt planning,” Jackson charged.

He remarked that despite Fernandez’s misgivings, and NEPA’s previous rejections of plans, there is now “mad speed” to proceed with the Bernard Lodge development. The MP stated that what is of further concern is that the housing ministry has proceded to sell lands for the development even before the plan is complete.

“I know of sales agreements that are down the road already…What the Government has done is to take all the land around the area that was with other entities and amass them under SCJ so that they have total control of the lands and then propose to use the Housing Act to do the development and circumvent the other intervening entities,” he alleged.

SCJ Holdings is a wholly-owned Government of Jamaica land management company.

Managing director of the WRA Herbert Thomas conceded that there are challenges with ground water supply for Bernard Lodge, but noted that, as part of plans to best utilise available water resources, the authority is conducting a study of the wells which have been out of commission to determine how much additional water could be made available.

“That area of land that was considered to be a very productive aquifer was, in fact, being supported by irrigation success, so the high ground water that we used to feel happy about, once the sugar cane production ceased, then all of that recharge from the excess ceased as well. Therefore, what you found is that the levels started moving down. So the aquifer was never a sustainable aquifer,” he explained.

Meanwhile, NWC President Mark Barnett said the entity is involved in the planning process for developments, explaining that municipal councils do not usually proceed with development plan approvals before receiving a response from the NWC as to whether service is available in specific areas.

“However, it should be noted that the indication of availability is not an approval because the approval, now needs to go through rigorous assessment to ensure that infrastructure that is required to support the development will be in place,” he outlined, noting that this is sometimes a misconception among developers.

Permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, which has responsibility for water, Audrey Sewell, informed the committee that a revised water policy should be ready for Parliament early in 2019. It is expected to address the lack of adequate and reliable potable water, especially in rural communities.