President of the Negril Chamber of Commerce Elaine Allen Bradley in discussion with minister with responsibility for water Matthew Samuda following his meeting with stakeholders in the resort town on Thursday. (Photo: Anthony Lewis)
Negril stakeholders happy with efforts to ease water woes
NEGRIL, Westmoreland — Several major stakeholders in Negril have welcomed the progress made in improving the supply of water to the resort town, which was hit hard by drought last year.
Following a meeting with Matthew Samuda, the Cabinet member with responsibility for water on Thursday, chairman of the Negril Area Destination Assurance Council Richard Wallace told the Jamaica Observer that there was good news for residents of Negril and business operators in the town.
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Samuda had told the meeting of several short-term measures already implemented and gave an update on a major project which should provide relief in the long term.
“We do all recall the dreadful drought that we experienced last year and how we had to work very closely with [stakeholders in Negril] and other civic groups…to navigate what was a very challenging situation. Since then, we’ve done work in the area that has reduced line losses by over two million gallons a day. That has significantly improved the water supply in this area,” said Samuda.
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He told the meeting that work was also carried out at the Logwood Treatment Plant in Hanover and Bulstrode Treatment Plant in Westmoreland which have had a positive impact on customers in the area.
But Samuda admitted that the work done so far is insufficient and announced that a $28-billion project promised last year is scheduled to begin in May and completed in two and a half years.
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“We were very clear last year…that we would have to change the main transmission line from Lucea into [the] West End, and we would also have to change the main transmission line from the Martha Brae River [Treatment Plant] into Montego Bay, to the terminal reservoir,” added Samuda.
He pointed out that the development and procurement phases for projects such as the one being done in Negril can take more than five years; however, in this case, the process took almost a year as a result of utilising the emergency process.
“Well, it was an emergency, so we did declare the project an emergency, and because it was declared an emergency, all government stakeholders worked together very closely to complete the full review of the public investment process, and we’ve completed that process, and we’re in the final stages of contracting the work,” said Samuda.
Wallace, a hotelier, later told the Observer that Negril stakeholders were pleased with the update provided by Samuda.
“This is great news. It means that the Government is investing in the tourism sector. They have noticed the problems that we have raised and are doing something about it,” said Wallace.
“Almost all the time that we get a notice from the NWC [National Water Commission] that there’s going to be a water lock-off, they cite single-phase issues at Logwood. Now, we reached out to the Government to put in place a generator to help to solve that problem and the Government bought a generator and installed it. However, there appears to have been some kind of factory fault on the machine and it had to be sent back to the supplier.
“So the new machine was removed and taken back because it wasn’t working properly and this morning the minister updated us on that situation and told us that the generator should be back at the plant and installed within a month. So we were very happy to hear that,” added Wallace.
He pointed out that while water lock-offs by the NWC are not for extended periods, “A lot of people who don’t have tanks are severely disrupted when the plant is down because of electrical issues. So, we are very happy to hear that it will be remedied”.
President of the Negril Chamber of Commerce Elaine Allen Bradley was equally happy with the outcome of Thursday’s stakeholders meeting.
“I know the ministers speak, but Government agencies never work together for the benefit of the people. They talk, but they don’t do things together. So, I was most happy to hear that the minister has been conversing with [Tourism Minister Edmund] Bartlett, because when Mr Bartlett came down for the Red Stripe Experience [in January], he did commit a few things for Negril.
“And so now Minister Samuda has come and has given us some dates and I was very happy that it sort of connected with the timeline that Mr Bartlett had given us. So, [on] May 21st, we should see things happening and I am happy with that,” said Allen Bradley.
