Irrigation systems in St Catherine, Clarendon to get additional $250m investment
The Government will continue to
rehabilitate irrigation infrastructure in St. Catherine and Clarendon during
the upcoming fiscal year, through an additional allotment of $250 million.
The money has been provided in the 2020/21 Estimates
of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives.
To be undertaken by the National Irrigation Commission, the works
will include: replacement of an ageing and inefficient turbine at
the Free Town No. 2 pump station; replacement of 865 metres of pipeline at the
Clarendon Upper and Lower Rhymesbury pump station; installation of a solar
photovoltaic (PV)-powered pumping station in Hounslow; and restoration of Rio
Cobre declining infrastructure (Upper Old Harbour Branch).
Up to December 2019 under the project,
2,500 metres of canal line at the old Milk River canal were rehabilitated, in
addition to 2,400 metres of pipeline at the Parnassus pump station, while lines
were replaced at Rhymesbury.
The project, which seeks to reduce water
losses and operational costs in select irrigation systems in the two parishes,
began in April 2016 and is scheduled to end in March 2022.
In the meantime, $15 million has been set
aside for the development of a project proposal for an irrigation system in
Pedro Plains, St. Elizabeth.
It is being jointly funded by the
Governments of Jamaica and France.
