KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister with responsibility for Water, Matthew Samuda has dismissed claims that the various issues affecting the troubled Greenwich Sewage Treatment Plant in St Andrew South Western are not being adequately addressed because the plant is not located uptown.

The claims were made by Dr Angela Brown Burke, the Member of Parliament for St Andrew South Western, during the sitting of the Parliament’s Standing Finance Committee (SFC) on Thursday.

“Not true,” Samuda said.

“If the Greenwich sewage plant was located in Cherry Gardens or Beverly Hills, we wouldn’t have the problems we have with it because you would have come down and you would have resolved it,” Brown-Burke asserted.

She again pointed out that the stench from the plant continues to be a problem for teachers and staff at the nearby Greenwich Primary School.

“Individuals at that school have to hold their breath; the teachers and the students have to stop; persons get sick,” Brown-Burke added. She told the SFC that she has spoken at length with the minister and has brought the problem to the attention of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation.

“We’ve had conversations with you,” she told Samuda, adding that “every time I think we’re nearing somewhere, it seems as if we’re still back at square one. Honest to goodness, I believe that enough is enough”.

Brown-Burke asked for an update as to when the issue will be addressed before stating that, “I don’t believe that the role of a Member of Parliament is to walk behind ministers and kiss people’s butt. I don’t believe that.”

Responding, Samuda said, “It is a matter of record, public and private, that several hundred million dollars have already been spent on the facility. The reality is there has to be an upgrade of the pre-treatment facility because it is the only space in Kingston and St Andrew where cesspool trucks are able to enter.”

Continuing, Samuda said, “We’ve put in the fencing to be able to deal with the illegal access to that space; despite vandalism, we’ve repaired it twice. We’ve also upgraded the on-loading bay of our trucks, and unfortunately, even in upgrading the security of the facility, many of the illegal truckers who were causing a bit of the issue in the community have now migrated to the Portmore facility, and that is what is causing part of the issue in Greater Portmore.”

The minister acknowledged that “it is impatient of debate that the nation’s sewage infrastructure is woefully inadequate, much of what exists is old, and the reality is, its capacity is limited”.

He said there is no part of the sewage network in Jamaica that doesn’t require an upgrade regardless of which part of our geography it exists in, and there’s lobbying right across almost every constituency for sewage problems.

“I assure you, it’s not because of its location why it’s not yet resolved, but rather because of the fiscal capacity of the [National] Water Commission to deal with the sewage issues for all of downtown [Kingston] into Portmore,” Samuda explained.

“I appreciate all the time you’ve taken to say all you did [but] I still don’t hear a solution,” Brown-Burke said. She asked Samuda if she should say to the current generation that if the Jamaica Labour Party remains in government, the problem will not be fixed.

“I want to be clear on what it is I should take from here going back to my constituents,” she said.

Samuda shot back with, “Member, all things related to the water commission, whether it’s related to potable water or to waste water management, are better under this administration than the previous.”

“That is a statistical fact,” he said as Brown-Burke interrupted him while laughing and stating, “That must be a joke.”

Samuda insisted that numerically, more people have access to potable water for longer, per day.

“Numerically, there is greater storage capacity in the system. Numerically, we have laid more pipes than any other administration. Numerically we have cut energy usage faster than any other… We have also done more to upgrade the creaking sewage system that we inherited,” he said.

What Brown-Burke said next would trigger heated crosstalk after she was perceived to have referred to Samuda as a liar.

“All that pretty speaking that you just did a while ago, if you take that to South West St Andrew, they would tell you that you’re a liar, that’s what they would tell you, and they would be correct in saying that because, as you very well know…,” she said before she was shouted down by government members, led by Juliet Cuthbert Flynn, who accused Brown-Burke of being rude.

The Deputy Speaker of the House, Heroy Clarke, who was presiding at the time, asked Brown-Burke to apologise, but she refused, insisting that she did not call Samuda a liar.

Clarke told Brown-Burke that, “We’ve given you the privilege to ask questions, and you went down a road that is not called for, and I’m going to ask you to apologise for the term or reference to the minister that you made.”

When she spoke, Brown-Burke repeated what she thought her constituents would say about the claims of how much better the provision of water services has been under the current administration because that is not their reality.

Samuda insisted that the question of improved service in Kingston and St Andrew, Portmore, and St James is not subjective or open to opinion.

“We’ve digitised the distribution network; we know who gets water when, at what pressure, and for how many hours. Anyone calling me or asserting that someone else would call me a liar is simply wrong,” he said.