AHEAD of next week’s reopening of schools, an additional $500 million has been allocated to ease Jamaicans’ torment caused by drought and severe heat brought on by Super El Niño weather conditions. Cabinet approved the measure Monday and Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change Matthew Samuda provided an update to the media yesterday.

“We’ll see $150 million being sent to the National Water Commission (NWC) for them to dedicate trucks to schools, [for] back-to-school; to health centres and hospitals; and indeed to critical infrastructure, including police stations, with a priority on those that are places of detention. From the approved $500 million we will see $200 million being channelled through the offices of the Members of Parliament to provide support in their constituencies, and it will see $150 million of support going to all municipalities to ensure that they’re able to respond in areas where the utility footprint is not,” Samuda announced.

He was speaking during a tour of a multi-billion-dollar pipe-laying and rehabilitation project on Old Hope Road in St Andrew.

The minister stressed that if weather conditions improve, the funds will not be spent. However, he acknowledged that meteorological forecasts indicate that the situation is not likely to improve any time soon.

Brutal heat, reduced rainfall, and drought are some of the conditions that accompany what is on track to be the strongest El Niño on record. The weather pattern has been unleashing extreme weather across the globe, and Jamaicans have been reeling from the impact.

“Because the forecast has said we’re unlikely to see a major change in our current rainfall levels until early next year, we’ve made this provision to ensure that we’re able to respond to those most in need, and to critical infrastructure needs and, of course, support back-to-school as best as possible,” Samuda shared.

He said it is clear the drought is having a terrible impact on social stability and economic activity as well as the general comfort of citizens, and sought to assure that the Government is doing everything within its power to shore up its emergency response to the situation.

Samuda said he is aware that nothing makes people feel better than when they have water running through their pipes at home.

“The Government is spending over $15 billion this year alone on infrastructure work to upgrade the pipes. For those who find themselves in dire straits, we’re clear that we have to provide a particular level of support in a number of ways. It’s important to note that the Government already, since the start of this drought, has expended $86 million in trucking of water to those critically affected and to critical infrastructure,” the minister said.

Turning his attention to adherence to water restrictions imposed by Government, Samuda said generally there is a great consciousness within the society that the country is experiencing a weather crisis, and there is support for the push to get citizens to conserve.

“We are seeing that [conservation] in stabilisation and reduced rate of decline at major storage facilities. We always have errant ones, but generally we are getting compliance. We deal with weather crises annually, sometimes rainy seasons and sometimes dry spells. I think the consciousness related to this particular drought is there,” he added.