…$26m for new drought unit
WESTERN BUREAU — Government has pumped $26- million into the establishment of a new drought management unit, which will become operational today. It will be headed by junior water minister Harry Douglas.
The unit has been mandated to find ways to minimise the impact of the severe drought conditions now said to be affecting sections of the island, especially in the parishes of St Ann, St Mary, and St Elizabeth.
“The unit will be under the direct leadership of the minister of state, Harry Douglas, who will supervise the drought relief efforts from the Marescaux Road Offices of the National Water Commission (NWC),” water minister Donald Buchanan said Friday.
Buchanan said both a 1-800 number and a direct line, which will be manned by Douglas, are being installed so that the public will have easy access to the unit.
“In addition, the minister of state will also have a senior functionary of the National Water Commission with him, to ensure that there is co-ordination right across the board with respect to the drought relief activities,” the water minister said.
The unit is expected to co-ordinate its activities with the input of the parish councils, and other agencies which usually require assistance in times of drought.
Buchanan, who was speaking in Sandy Bay, Hanover at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Great River/Lucea Water Supply Project, also said that all of the NWC’s Rapid Response’s 96 units are now fully functional and have been dispatched to several communities affected by drought.
The water ministry will also be dispatching 34, 1000-gallon drums for water storage in the worst affected communities of the island, Buchanan said.
Minister Douglas later told the Observer that he was confident that the programme now being implemented by the Government to tackle drought will alleviate the conditions in the affected areas.