The National Water Commission (NWC) will be spending $1.4 billion this year to lay sewer lines along Monroe Road, Retreat Avenue, Seymour Avenue, and Old Hope Road in St Andrew.

In making the announcement, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said “the sewer network in Kingston and St Andrew is critical to the future development within the parish, both to facilitate greater densities, and safeguard ground water”.

He was speaking during his recent contribution to the 2025/26 Budget Debate at Gordon House.

He told the Parliament that the Government is moving to address the longstanding problem of collapsing sewer mains in western Kingston and the downtown Kingston business district. He said an overhaul of the entire potable water, sewerage and drainage networks is required for most of Central and West Kingston.

To this end, he has directed the minister with responsibility for water, Matthew Samuda, “to ensure that project design for this massive infrastructure need is completed this year. I have further directed that J$450 million be immediately deployed to the worst affected areas within the market district to provide immediate relief”.

The prime minister said the NWC has also commenced procurement of an additional Hi Vac truck to be stationed in downtown Kingston to ensure blockages are dealt with immediately.

“The infrastructure is old and the investment has been inadequate,” Holness said.

He said steps will also be taken to address the problems at the Greater Portmore Treatment Plant and sewerage lines in the Edgewater and Portsmouth communities in St Catherine. He noted that the NWC spent $90 million to upgrade the eastern section of the Greater Portmore Treatment Plant and that a similar upgrade is required for the western section of the plant and that will be undertaken next year.

In the interim, the NWC will install two new pumps to cut overflows, increase maintenance and install perimeter fencing to stop the illegal access of cesspool trucks.