Shaw: Don't take dust nuisance lightly

In light of complaints by the members of the communities surrounding the Ewarton Bauxite Plant in St Catherine, Minister of Finance Audley Shaw said that the Government should take the manner seriously.

“We must not ease on things that can affect our citizens like dust nuisance,” Shaw said in parliament yesterday.

The minister was responding to question posed by Member of Parliament for South Eastern St Ann, Lisa Hanna, who made reference to an article in THE STAR earlier this week.  

In the reference article, which was published the on Monday, members of the communities of Cotton Piece and Pleasant Farm in St. Catherine complained that dust particles from the Ewarton Bauxite plant have been affected their sinuses and corroding zincs on their roofs.

Since the article was published, few residents have contacted THE STAR to say they are experiencing similar discomfort in their communities.

“We are having a dust nuisance problems and a nuisance problem. Everyone in this community suffers from sinus and upper respiratory tract infection,” Christine Blake, who resides in the community of White House, Ewarton, said.

“On any given Friday and Saturday night, you can go up to Linstead Hospital and you can see a lot of people on nebulizer.”

Blake told THE STAR that noise from the pipes in the plants keeps her up at night.

“Around 10 in the nights you can hear the pounding from the pipes,” She said.

“About five years now we don’t get any money,” said Blake in reference to a so-called dust money paid to residents for compensation.