MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Political and development leaders here in this south-central parish are lobbying for greater expenditure from revenue earned in the bauxite industry.

Chairman of the Manchester Parish Development Committee, Anthony Freckleton and Councillor Mario Mitchell (Bellefield Division, People’s National Party) want specific allocations to be made for infrastructure maintenance and development of areas in Manchester which have been mined and in which residents have been resettled.

“We are proposing a cap on the percentage of funds that can be transferred from the capital development fund to the Consolidated Fund, and also if we can find a mechanism to say ‘Alright, out of the levy that we collect this year, a percentage of it can be guaranteed for our parish,’ ” Freckleton told political and business leaders at the Manchester Bauxite and Alumina Industry Conference held at Northern Caribbean University (NCU) on Thursday.

“To get this done our politicians have to work together… This year the Government is predicting that they are going to collect $5 billion in bauxite levy. How much of that can the folks in Cross Keys expect?” he asked.

Statistics from the Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI) said total net inflows stood at US$277.3 million from bauxite and alumina in 2020.

Mitchell believes that communities affected by bauxite mining have not sufficiently benefited, and suggested that the Jamaica Bauxite Institute’s allocations be likened to the role of the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) and the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF).

“When TPDCO and TEF spend their money, they have specific regards for the tourism areas. [With] the JBI funds, which goes to the Consolidated Fund, it is shared equally amongst all sections of Jamaica. Not every parish does bauxite mining,” he said.

“I don’t want to be selfish but I would love if a higher consideration of funds go back specifically to the bauxite-mining parishes,” he suggested.

He said subdivisions built by bauxite companies for the resettlement of residents from mined-out areas are lacking maintenance.

“The communities that are developed by the bauxite plants when they move certain people from certain areas, you have a number of housing schemes in Manchester and St Elizabeth that the roads are in some terrible conditions and the schemes are not at a certain level for them to be turned over to the parish councils,” he said.

Mitchell proposed that wells which were used to supply water to the now-mothballed Windalco/Kirkvine bauxite/alumina plant be tapped into to help alleviate Manchester’s water crisis.

“There are about 17 wells in Porus, and 70 per cent of Manchester doesn’t have piped water… Windalco, which has been closed for about 15 years, has a monopoly on some of those wells,” he said.

Mandeville and surrounding communities have struggled with water shortages for decades, with town elders insisting over a period of many years that the problem has hindered growth.

The Pepper well field, downslope at low altitude in St Elizabeth, is the main source of water for Mandeville.

Mitchell said the wells and mined-out pits should be used to alleviate the water crisis.

“… Look at a development plan for us to concrete those pits [for] water catchment and harvesting,” he said.

“There must be an avenue that the Government can use force acquisition, as they do with roads, to ensure that the water resources that are in Porus be used to give back to at least the parish,” he reasoned.

He suggested that the precious commodity can be distributed to neighbouring parishes as well.

“The amount of water in Porus for the 17 wells can be used to put water in Trelawny, St Elizabeth, Clarendon and in St Catherine,” he said

General manager at JBI, Stevie Barnett said mined-out pits are alreaady in use for water harvesting.

“We do it as it relates to the greenhouse clusters,” he said in response to Mitchell’s suggestions.

He said that communities need to develop project plans and submit them to the JBI.

He added that allocations of up to $4 million are made to Members of Parliament “to do any sort of work in their community”.