Offensive harbour odour greets officials downtown

The pungent scent of waste emanating from a section of the Kingston Harbour permeated the air on Wednesday as Prime Minister Andrew Holness and other dignitaries gathered at Breezy Castle in downtown Kingston to celebrate the completion of a major development project.

A $1.3 billion outlay, the Port Royal Street Revetment Project, was undertaken to protect the shoreline from erosion as well as to create additional social spaces for persons to hang out. However, a highly offensive odour which rises from the area where the Barns Gully enters the sea, has been robbing persons of the opportunity to stroll along the newly built boardwalk and gaze and the harbour. Imani Duncan-Price, who represented Opposition Leader Mark Golding at the event, said something needs to be done about the scent.

"It is a beautiful boardwalk where women and men exercise, but [they] sometimes complain about the smell," she said.

According to Duncan-Price, the People's National Party caretaker for Kingston Central, the odour has been a bother to members of the nearby communities.

"We in opposition -- those members in Parliament and also the senators -- would be supportive of laws to strengthen penalties to companies that have the effluent actually being released into the harbour, via the gullies," she said.

"I think the time has come to maximise this opportunity of this investment and actually drive further development with stronger laws for the companies to comply with appropriate disposal of their effluent through sustainability of relevant policies and laws," she added.

Holness agreed that there was a need for stronger penalties for persons who defile the environment.

"As we improve our built environment, which we represent, we must also act in instrumental ways to protect our natural environment. No one sitting in this audience can feel satisfied that sewage is going into the harbour, apparently untreated," Holness said.

The Port Royal Street Revetment Project, which was funded by the World Bank, was implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund.