Opposition Members of Parliament who represent constituencies where bauxite mining is or was prevalent have argued that the amount of money allocated to the Bauxite Community Development Programme (BCDP) is not enough.

They argued during Tuesday’s sitting of the House of Representatives that the $400 million being made available from the Capital Development Fund (CDF) which is managed by the Jamaica Bauxite Institute to undertake projects under the BCDP in mining communities is a drop in the bucket.

They made their collective position known after Finance Minister Fayval Williams moved a motion for the House to approve the $400 million from the CDF to fund the projects between 2025 and 2028 at $100 million each year. Broken down, it will see between $4 million and $5 million allocated per constituency each year. The motion was approved at the end of a fairly lengthy debate for what is usually a routine procedure.

First to voice his disapproval was the MP for Manchester Southern, Peter Bunting, who said, “That $100 million a year is really an embarrassment. If that entire amount was used in South Manchester, it wouldn’t begin to dent the work that needs to be done in that constituency. “It’s quite frankly inconsequential relative to the needs of these constituencies”.

Bunting highlighted that many communities in south Manchester have endured bauxite mining for decades including Broadleaf, Harmons, Pratville and Lancaster among others. He noted that some have been mined out and left with open pits that have not been reclaimed decades after mining ceased.

“When you go into some of these communities you could only describe the landscape as post-apocalyptic and this is not because of the recent hurricane, this has been in that condition for decades,” Bunting remarked. He pointed to schools that are struggling to reopen following the passage of Hurricane Melissa on October 28, including Pratville Primary and Winston Jones High.

He lamented that “even in this time of the more transient crisis that has been brought on by Hurricane Melissa, even getting a response from the companies that are operating to assist the communities in this regard, is very difficult”.

Bunting shared that having asked whether the bauxite company would be assisting with the trucking of water in the aftermath of the hurricane, he is yet to get a response. He also accused the companies of exploiting the law by leaving small amounts of bauxite in a largely mined out area, sometimes for decades, so they don’t have to take steps to reclaim the land.

For his part, the MP for St Ann South East, Dr Kenneth Russell, declared that “apart from the exploitative nature of mining, the relationship between the bauxite companies and the citizens is poor”. He pointed to the noise and dust nuisance associated with mining activities as well as what he described as unsafe roads in some of these communities.

“When we talk about a community development programme, it needs to be one that speaks to actually helping the people to be better as a result of mining,” he said. The first term MP pointed out that that used to be the case as some communities in the constituency were built with bauxite money in the 1970s, one such being Golden Grove.

“Those communities were built on bauxite. What we’re seeing now is that a lot of the communities, once the mining starts, even in the vicinity of the communities, they begin to go south, they degrade,” Russell stated. Like Bunting, he also spoke to the open pits left behind, declaring them a risk to farmers and their livelihood. “They don’t have the land to use for production, they don’t have safety of moving around, they don’t have the safety of children being able to move freely in these communities because of the risks associated with these open pits”.

Russell charged that the mining companies have “tried to explain away why it is that they keep them open”.

During his contribution to the debate, MP for St Catherine North Western, Damion Crawford also said the amount allocated to each constituency was inadequate. However, he acknowledged that the Windalco Bauxite plant in his constituency was responsible for the majority of jobs directly and indirectly.

Crawford also highlighted that it has been indicated that the bauxite industry has between 10 and 15 years of “efficient production” left and argued that the amount allocated to each community “proves that there’s no real plan after bauxite”.

“We have the history and evidence of life after banana, we have the history and evidence of life after sugar and we see how the suffering has come to those communities that were once dependent for employment and activities,” he said.

Stressing that there is no industry development proposal, Crawford said “We have not seen a life after bauxite plan being put forward for any community. I’ve not seen it for North West St Catherine and I’m not sure if the other MPs have seen one. But there’s no such plan for us to say we’re going into this replacement industry, we’re going into this replacement activity”.

“It seems as if we’re running full speed into the abyss with no plan for the people that are currently directly dependent on the bauxite industry,” he added.

Crawford said the so-called ‘dust money’ that was paid to residents for the dust nuisance which poses both health and environmental problems was discontinued without consultation. He also told the House that “In North West St Catherine we know that the bauxite industry has robbed us of the river (Rio Cobre). Multiple slates of pollution coming into the river have caused not only the economic viability of fishing [to decline] but the recreational activity of swimming [to stop]. We have seen on multiple occasions the fish kill within the same spaces,” Crawford said.

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Floyd Green, in his contribution to the debate, assured that “all the concerns raised will be taken on board. He also committed to meeting with all MPs who represent mining communities “so that we can fetter out some of these challenges that they continue to have”.

Green said all MPs have the same mission for the most part, which is to see that the mining communities get real benefit from mining. He pointed out that Jamaica has benefited from mining over the decades. “The reality is that there are a number of communities, towns that were built through the bauxite and mining industry. A number of schools, community centres were built through our bauxite industry,” he said.

Green pointed to the town of Mandeville and Manchester High School and St Elizabeth Technical High School, declaring them to be “legacies from bauxite mining”.

He said, “There are issues that we have in relation to some of the environmental challenges but the reality is that a number of our towns, a number of our families were employed, have been employed, and have seen real benefit from the mining sector. Even as we speak, the mining sector still pays the highest average salary to workers in our country”.

Green disclosed that he has mandated the Commissioner of Mines to take a zero tolerance approach in relation to the rehabilitation of pits so that no new pits are added to the backlog. He also said no bauxite community should be without piped water, stating that “It is a travesty that over the years these communities have gone without piped water while the industry does use a lot of water