KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister with responsibility for Water, Matthew Samuda, has chided the People’s National Party’s (PNP) for its management of the portfolio while in office, arguing that their policies were “a disaster where water was concerned.”

Samuda was speaking at the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Area Council One meeting in Fletcher’s Land on Tuesday night.

In his address, Samuda said the PNP government is the “only political party on planet Earth who run pipes and don’t connect them” and then, according to him, possess the “nerve to make noise bout water.”

“If you go through several operations…housing schemes now from Harbour View to Duhaney Park dem run pipe and don’t connect the pipes. If you go through the length and breadth of this country and look at some of the highways they built, it gets worst,” he said. “Imagine building a new road and don’t run no pipe. So either dem don’t connect the pipe or dem don’t run no pipe and den dem have the nerve to ask where is the water?”

In driving home his point about the issues surrounding water management, Samuda said while the topic isn’t a complicated one, it is very expensive. He went further to indicate that it is the JLP-led government that is fixing the pipes in Kingston and St Andrew.

“To fix water and sewage in Jamaica, the World Bank estimates that it is about five billion US dollars. To fix water and sewage in Kingston and St Andrew, it’s about one billion US dollars,” he shared.

“We need a serious government run by Andrew Michael Holness to ensure that the billion dollars is well spent,” he continued.