- Norman Grindley/Staff Photographer
Red Stripe's Corporate Relations Director, Noel daCosta (left), hands over a donation for Hurricane Ivan relief to Senator Deika Morrison (centre) and Minister of Water and Housing, Donald Buchanan, at the Norman Manley International Airport.
COMMUNITIES THAT are among the worst affected during the passage of Hurricane Ivan and are still without water, stand to benefit from $100 million donated to the National Water Commission (NWC), by Red Stripe.
The donation was accepted on Thursday by Minister of Water and Housing, Donald Buchanan, and Senator Deika Morrison of the Ministry of Finance.
"On behalf of the Government and the people of Jamaica, I am pleased to accept this generous donation from Red Stripe and the Diageo Foundation towards the restoration and improvement of potable water," said the Minister of Water, during a brief ceremony held at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.
PRIORITY
He stressed that the priority of the Ministry of Water is placed on bringing back into operation the largest and most critical water supply facilities that serve large population centres and public institutions, such as hospitals and airports.
Speaking with Sunday Business, Red Stripe's Corporate Relations Director, Noel daCosta, said the money will assist the NWC to restore water in areas such as Clarendon, Mandeville, St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland, which were devastated by the natural disaster.
The funding will also help with the reconstruction of water intake areas and conveyance systems, broken and dislocated pumping and distribution pipelines, drilling and equipping of replacement wells as well as repairs to reservoirs and tanks.
According to Charles Buchanan, the NWC's public relations manager, his organisation has suffered millions of dollars in damage, during the powerful hurricane.
Apart from the monetary donation, Red Stripe through its parent company, Diageo, donated over $6 million worth of relief supplies to the Government. The supplies, which weighed over 50,000 pounds, include infant formula, Geodestic Dome Tents, Altosid (mosquito control), baby diapers and white rice. They were flown in from Miami.
They were handed over to Paul Saunders, the deputy director-general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM).
Mr. Saunders told Sunday Business that the distribution of the relief supplies will begin very soon. "We will start to distribute the supplies as soon as we unpack them," he said.
