ST JAMES, Jamaica – Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Matthew Samuda on Friday continued his two-day tour of water systems in St James with a visit to the Rhyne Park Water Supply System.

The minister, who was accompanied on the tour by Member of Parliament for East Central St James and Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, viewed the rehabilitation and upgrading works being conducted on the number one and two pumping stations at Rhyne Park.

The project, which is being carried out by the National Water Commission at a cost of J$605 million, is aimed at increasing coverage; reducing the downtime associated with high turbidity and equipment failure; and improving the reliability of service to some 8000 customers in the Rhyne Park Housing Development and the communities of Spot Valley, Edmund Ridge and Mount Zion.

The scope of the project was divided into two phases. Phase one comprised the mechanical and electrical upgrading of the two pumping stations.

“This includes significant investment in storage capacity to put in new tanks, but it also importantly includes investment on the mechanical side. We’ve changed out the pumping infrastructure and we are now in a position to ensure that we are able to provide in excess of 1.1 million gallons daily,” Samuda stated.

Phase two of the project includes the procurement and construction of 5km of 400mm ductile iron pipes to transfer water from the Martha Brae Trunk Main in the vicinity of the Hylton Rose Hall Hotel to the 500,000 gallon storage reservoir at Rhyne Park Phase three.

“We are also doing some work on the distribution lines to ensure that it is modern infrastructure and that the appropriate resilience is indeed built in. So this is just another example of the significant investment that is being made in water infrastructure. But that investment is being made in a very targeted and sequential manner in light of the long term planning that I know Minister Bartlett, as Member of Parliament and as Minister, has put into this area because of how close it is to the tourism belt,” Samuda noted.

On Thursday, Minister Samuda toured several areas in the constituencies of North West St James and Central St James to examine the issues with the water supply in those areas, and to view two major tanks that were recently installed at Torado Heights.