MONTPELIER, St James — Pointing to a $585-million project that is expected to improve the water supply for 11,000 residents in rural St James, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness on Wednesday told other Jamaicans longing for easy access to the commodity not to give up hope.

“I’m very pleased and very happy to be here in south St James in the Anchovy area for the people who will benefit from having this major water project. We are very happy for them, but we also want to give hope to the thousands of other Jamaicans who are understandably frustrated, [and] who are expecting a better standard of living,” he said.

“Thirty years ago, maybe it was alright to have the water come and stop at your gate and you go and catch it and carry it in. Nowadays, everybody wants better. People want to build their houses and [have] the water inside their houses. That is prosperity. And that is what the Government is committed to do. But it’s not a snap of the finger; it is a process. Take heart, we are in that process now, and we will bring water to you,” Holness promised.

The prime minister was referencing work being done on the water infrastructure between Shettlewood and Mount Carey. The project falls under the Government’s Integrated Community Development Project II (ICDP II) and will benefit more than 12 communities in south St James when completed.

For Member of Parliament (MP) for St James Southern Homer Davis, the project is long overdue.

“This project was long in coming but, under the leadership of Andrew Holness, it has been made possible. As the Member of Parliament, to say that I am happy is an understatement,” he noted.

Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) is the implementing agency for the ICDP II and is partnering on the project with the St James Municipal Corporation, National Environment and Planning Agency, the Anchovy Community Development Committee, and National Water Commission (NWC).

The NWC contributed pipes valued at $100 million.

“We also are going to provide here 12 kilometres of pipeline which is an eight-inch transmission line along with some six-inch lines, four pumps and rehabilitation and installation of two tanks for a complete system that will bring, as the Member of Parliament has said, reliable water supply to this area not just for who is here now but for the future to come,” said JSIF Managing Director Omar Sweeney.

This phase of the work being done is part of a wider plan to pump $1.5 billion into St James, through ICDP II projects.

According to a release from JSIF, since April 2020 the communities of Mount Salem, Norwood, Anchovy and Salt Spring have been benefiting from “a diverse menu of projects to improve the quality of life of residents”.

It listed $1.3 billion of work done on roads, water supply and drainage systems in Anchovy, Salt Spring and Norwood; more than $100 million spent on infrastructure at Anchovy Primary, Salt Spring Primary and Lethe Primary schools in addition to improvement in infrastructure along school routes (safe passages project); funds spent on sports infrastructure, parks and recreational spaces; along with the provision of a raft of social services.

In Montpelier on Wednesday, Holness argued that the GOJ-funded projects being undertaken have only been made possible because of his Administration’s astute management of the economy.

“I know that there are many communities that have no water for the last 30, 40, 50 years. Even in this constituency in 2020, we turned on water supply for communities that didn’t have water for 30 years,” said the prime minister.

“It is now, at this point in time in our history, having made progress on our economy, that we can have JSIF, which previously when funding these projects would say that, ‘I want to thank the Government of such and such a country for helping us to bring water to our rural communities’,” he added.

Holness noted that while residents who are happy they have water in their taps may give little thought to who provided the funding, he was fully aware of the importance of the country being self-sustainable.

“Jamaica can’t exist forever hoping to get grants and aid from other countries to satisfy the demands that we have here,” stated Holness.

“What has changed in Jamaica is that you have a Government that has run the economy very well to the point where we can start to use our own resources to address the issues that face you. So, it’s Jamaican money that is putting water in your pipe and for that reason, the water should taste even better,” quipped Holness.