CABINET member with responsibility for water Senator Matthew Samuda says a number of measures are to be implemented to solve long-running water challenges facing sections of the St Andrew East Rural constituency.

St Andrew East Rural, represented by the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Juliet Holness, includes Bull Bay, Mavis Bank, Gordon Town and several other communities which have struggled with a lack of water for years.

Addressing a constituency conference staged by Holness at her Gordon Town constituency office on Sunday, Samuda said residents should soon have greater access to this precious commodity on a sustainable basis.

“That is why I made sure to come here to talk to the people of East Rural St Andrew. I know there is a problem in Bull Bay, right at St Benedict Heights, where for years the PNP (People’s National Party) dem do the Operation Pride project and never connect them properly to the water supply system.

“Well, I’m here to confirm that we have scoped the project, and within a month I expect to submit it to the prime minister for review and sign-off. The aim is to ensure that we go to procurement this year,” said Samuda who is the minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, which is headed by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

Samuda said the project in Bull Bay will cost in excess of $100 million and will connect 3,000 people in the Benedict Heights area to a reliable water supply system.

He told the Labourities that he was invited on a tour recently by Juliet Holness to assess challenges facing the constituency, and he wanted to assure the residents of Mavis Bank and the neighbouring Top Road that the Government understands their plight and is working on solutions.

“We went to places like Top Road and Mavis Bank, and we looked at the system there and we said that the entombment for the spring needs to be upgraded. Currently, a small 20,000-gallon tank is servicing Top Road. I signed off with the Rural Water Authority a few days ago for a 50,000-gallon tank to be installed at Top Road,” said Samuda.

The minister said during his recent tour the Member of Parliament insisted that he visit the Westphalia area of the constituency and the community of Woodford.

According to Samuda, with the procurement phase now complete a pipeline has been ordered to ease the challenges being experienced by the residents of Westphalia.

“Mrs Holness said, ‘No, we can’t stop driving in Westphalia, we have to go to Woodford.’ So the update on that is that we have identified a supply source that is required to distribute water to the community of Woodford,” Samuda told the Labourities, to loud cheers.

He said Rural Water Authority is to present to him an estimate within a month as the Government is moving ahead with plans to bring reliable water supply to residents of the Woodford community.