Ivan Anderson (left), chief executive officer of the National Works Agency, yesterday oversees the crew which began cleaning a garbage-choked gully in Majesty Gardens, South West St. Andrew while residents from the community look on. - Norman GrindleyBy Trudy Simpson,
Staff Reporter
RESIDENTS OF Majesty Gardens, south west St. Andrew, gave a collective sigh of relief yesterday as a crew from the National Works Agency, Ministry of Transport and Works, began cleaning a garbage-choked gully, the state of which sparked a protest there last week.
The gully has been a source of misery for residents who were often bowled over by the stench or had their homes flooded with polluted water when it rained. Last week's protest was sparked by an incident on Wednesday when two-year-old Rumel Sutherland fell into the gully while using it as a toilet.
But while The Gleaner had a hard time on Friday finding out which agency was responsible for cleaning the gully, both Ivan Anderson, chief executive officer of the National Works Agency, and Dr. Herb Elliott, of the Ministry of Health's Public Health Department, insisted yesterday that the gully was the responsibility of the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation.
Last week, the KSAC said it normally only "helps out" in such a situation, adding that it did not have money to carry out the work. Town Clerk Errol Greene was unavailable for comment yesterday but Mr. Anderson said that the matter of whose responsibility it was had been clarified.
He told The Gleaner that the NWA was assisting the KSAC by providing time, equipment and manpower which had been taken from several other projects in Kingston.
"We're responding to an emergency need ... doing it to assist the KSAC", he said. "We didn't know about it (the state of the gully but) we saw it this morning and it's a very bad situation".
As the crew began working on sections above the railway line running near the community, scores of residents milled around, some wondering if they could be hired to help clean the gully. "Mi can get some ah di work to go down in the gully and help clean it? Mi have five pickney without no help," one woman was heard asking.
Others said they hoped the work would continue until the gully was clean. "We hope that is not an election t'ing. We hope they do the job properly and not half-way," one resident said.
But the total clean-up will take some time. Mr. Anderson said his crew would not be tackling the sections of the gully which was closer to the sea.
"Our mandate now is to just move the garbage above the railway. We'll need to go back and look at the area to the sea... which will be probably more than we can handle. We may need a drag line (because) what you find has happened is that the outfall to the sea has not been cleaned in a long time."
