Over 10,000 to benefit from Sligoville Water System Upgrade Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Over 10,000 residents from the Sligoville communities are to receive improved service delivery following the commissioning of the general Sligoville Water System Upgrade in St Catherine by Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Matthew Samuda, on Thursday, October 13.

The communities of Pleasant Farm, Keith Hall, Top Jackson, Top Kensington, Bottom Kensington, Stanberry Grove, Sligoville Main Road and James Mountain are receiving more than 14 hours of service daily from the $34.4 million upgrade at the Sligoville pumping station number four.

“Many Thursdays we have also been installing 50,000 and 100,000-gallon tanks. I think in looking at the area and when I go through with VP Kerr, MP, we will probably have to look at how we bring reliability to the space. We have seen in other areas where you are putting these 100,000-gallon tanks, it increases the reliability and connectivity for more hours per day,” said Samuda.

Member of Parliament for St Catherine North Central, Natalie Neita-Garvey, said she appreciated the upgrades, as what existed before was inadequate.

“Today, I believe we have received three new pumps and we are expecting three additional. What was discussed and approved was $290 million to get the new pumps to come to Jamaica. For this MP to get the $290 million today when resources are scarce, I am truly grateful,” Neita-Garvey added.

Natalie Neita-Garvey

She also concurred with Samuda that even though citizens have a right to water, they also have a responsibility to pay their bills, as the National Water Commission (NWC) has to pay high electricity bills because of storing, processing, distribution and pumping of water.

Samuda also mentioned several upgrades to NWC’s distribution network in the next financial year.

“We will start the process of changing out about 900 million to a billion dollars of pumps annually to remove the oldest, unreliable electricity-intensive pumps from the system so that our usage also goes down,” he said.

Samuda added that a national Non-Revenue Water (NRW) Reduction Programme is to be announced, which is expected to change the piping network, manage the pressure, ensure that pumps are properly calibrated, and ensure that residents get water in their pipes.

In partnership with MIYA Jamaica, the NWC launched in Kingston and St Andrew and St Catherine, the NRW Programme which aims to reduce the water that is either stolen or leaks out from bad pipes; The launches were in 2015 and April 2022, respectively.

Phase one of the Sligoville upgrade was completed in July 2022, and phase two is expected to be completed at the end of December 2022.

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