THE National Water Commission (NWC) says it will write off more than $150 million owed by customers in areas severely affected by recent water lock-offs and major roadworks.

Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Pearnel Charles Jnr made the announcement at a press briefing at the ministry in New Kingston yesterday.

The minister, who has been assigned the water portfolio since May this year, said the Government recognised that the prolonged drought, as well as the infrastructural work being carried out on major roads in Kingston and lower St Andrew had severely impacted the lives of residents of affected communities.

The Government, said Charles, is aware that the communities have been subjected to frequent and prolonged service disruptions and, therefore, they will be the beneficiaries of a “bill redemption system”, which has already started, under very specific conditions and through specific procedures.

He said the NWC will be collaborating with the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) to deliver the debt write-off to residents of the hard-hit communities, including downtown Kingston and the Hagley Park Road area where major road reconstruction work is being done.

“This is a bill redemption for the severely affected communities, which is very important,” Charles told the media.

“It is something which we have been asked about consistently: ‘What will happen to those of us who have been affected and who have to buy water?’. It will not be a wide-ranging response, but it will target the most affected and the most vulnerable,” he assured the press.

Providing further information, NWC President Mark Barnett said the commission would be spending in “excess of” $100 million to $150 million on the programme in these communities, as it is aware that there is a high level of debt owed by residents and the company is convinced that it would not be able to collect the debt anyway.

“We recognise the challenges, and we also note that to continue to carry this debt on the books of the NWC, which is non-collectable, is an event in futility,” Barnett said.

He described the project as a “debt write off” which leads to a “fresh start” for customers who have been challenged by the infrastructure work, which also involves the replacing of old pipelines and daily water lock-offs.

He explained that the NWC has been working with JSIF, which has been doing some social infrastructural work in the areas, but will do most of the work on the project.

“The NWC is right there working with JSIF, and that is what we are also working on, so that when persons are reconnected to the main infrastructure they will be given that opportunity to restart at zero (debt),” Barnett said.

“What we are doing is really redemption, because we are giving the customers the opportunity to start afresh with the NWC, meaning that whatever balances they may have on their bills, and the changes in infrastructure, we will be writing off those balances. But we will focus on certain communities and there are certain criteria that have to be met,” he pointed out.

He said that NWC customers do not need to come into the commission’s offices to access the credit, because the commission’s revenue section will be dealing with the programme.

“We already have a database with all of the customers within the particular areas, and that’s how we will be handling it,” he said.