MINISTER OF Water and Housing, Donald Buchanan, has appealed to persons with outstanding water bills to co-operate with the National Water Commission (NWC) and settle their accounts, warning that the Government would be employing tough measures against persons who refuse to pay their bills.
Mr. Buchanan said the NWC was currently on a drive to collect money owed by consumers and lawlessness in communities would not stop this campaign.
He added that a comprehensive audit was currently being carried out to determine the cost effectiveness and customer-friendliness of the NWC, as well as its ability to contribute to the national development process.
The Minister said the government would also be commissioning a study on the tariff and rates paid for water, following which an appropriate rate would be determined by the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR).
Mr. Buchanan was speaking last week at a consultation on the National Water Sector Policy, in Annotto Bay, St. Mary.
He reiterated Government's commitment to provide safe drinking water to all communities across the country by 2005.
The consultation, which followed a tour of water supply systems serving St. Mary, by the Minister, was the seventh such meeting to be held this year.
Mr. Buchanan told the meeting that the commitment was based on government's recognition that access to safe and good quality drinking water was central to the quality of human life and economic development.
Noting that this development was expected to cost $65 billion, the Minister said government was also committed to implementing the National Irrigation Plan to support the agricultural sector by the year 2015, adding that through that initiative a total of 51 irrigation schemes would be established across the country.
He explained that providing universal access to water would require government to employ different strategies in respect of its water policy, and that there would have to be co-operation among government, private sector and communities islandwide.
Mr. Buchanan said the Ministry would be moving swiftly to provide the legislative framework to enable the development of that partnership, and that already, two contracts had been signed with private sector companies for the provision of water to communities.
DRAINAGE PROJECT
The Minister said that the cost of providing first-class water supply systems was high, and that Jamaicans would have to pay for the service.
Turning to developments in Portland and St. Mary, Mr. Buchanan said a major water supply system would be established in the Port Maria to Ocho Rios area, and that Portland would benefit from the soon-to-be-implemented Port Antonio Water supply, sewerage and drainage project and the Hope Bay/St. Margaret's Bay water supply system.
Also making presentations were Genefa Hibbert, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water and Housing; Basil Fernandez, managing director of the Water Resources Authority, and E.G. Hunter, president of the NWC.
