Leslie McLean, Gleaner WriterCLAREMONT, St. Ann: OVER 200 volunteers participated in a cleaning up exercise at the Salem Beach on Sunday, February 27. Some $2 million will be spent to carry out a development programme at the beach.
Sunday's activities saw participants drawn from two of the premier youth agencies, the National Youth Service (NYS) and the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force (JCCF), along with fishermen from the Salem Beach and North East Parks and Market.
Member of Parliament for North West St. Ann, Verna Parchment, along with councillors Winston Lawrence, Sydney Stewart and Geoffrey Waugh also helped in the cleaning up exercise.
Neville Condappa, agriculture and fisheries consultant at the Office of National Reconstruction (ONR), told The Gleaner that after Hurricane Ivan, the ONR was given responsibility for spearheading a beach cleaning exercise to rid it of debris and foreign matter.
He said: "It has a heavy youth input as we
figured young people should develop a system of volunteerism, love of country and appreciation of environment."
The agriculture and fisheries consultant, revealed that some $2 million would be spent on repairing the fishermen gear shed. Proceeds from a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) loan of Jamaican $30 million are to be spent on beach infrastructure and clean-up across the island.
This programme will start in two weeks time, with the St. Ann Parish Council, the Fisheries Division and the Salem Fishermen Co-operative following the departure of the ONR.
The Salem project is the first of nine beach improvement projects, with the next being Pagee Beach and Anotto Bay in St. Mary on Saturday, March 5. This will be followed by Alligator Pond in St. Elizabeth, Orange Bay, Bryan's Bay and Prospect Beach in Portland, Old Harbour Bay in St. Catherine and finishing at Rocky Point in Clarendon on Sunday, April 3.
