Councillor airs plans for Bellefield Division
BELLEFIELD, Manchester — The focus was on water, but Councillor Mario Mitchell (People’s National Party, Bellefield Division) grabbed the opportunity to bring other issues to the fore at a recent opening of a water shop here.
Mitchell told his audience, including Minister of Local Government Desmond McKenzie and Member of Parliament for Manchester Central Peter Bunting, of development projects he has planned for Bellefield, Hope Village, and Banana Ground.
“I want to get a resource centre right here at the centre of Bellefield, so young people can come and do their homework, use the computer, and use the Internet…,” Mitchell told his listeners.
He also announced plans for a beautification programme “to make Bellefield square a little bit more pleasant, more appealing to the eye”.
At Hope Village, Mitchell is lobbying for a computer lab and park, and at Banana Ground he wants “extensive upgrading” of the health centre to a comprehensive clinic. As it is, said Mitchell, “the space is there underutilised”.
The water shop at Bellefield, which was formally opened by McKenzie, cost $9.5 million. It has a daily storage capacity of 20,000 gallons of water for distribution free of cost, on a managed basis, especially for those whose rainwater catchment tanks run dry during droughts. It’s estimated that as many as 10,000 people in the Bellefield Division stand to benefit.
This is the third such water shop to be developed by the Ministry of Local Government, following others in Pennants, north Clarendon in 2017, and Marlie Hill, south Manchester in 2018.
McKenzie says other water shops are planned for other parishes, including St Elizabeth, in the near future. The facilities are designed for those without piped water from the National Water Commission.
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