Northwestern parishes set for water upgrade

The Government will be spending approximately US$209 million (approximately J$33.3 billion) to implement the Northwestern Parishes Reliability and Service Improvement Project.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who made the announcement, said the project is intended to address water concerns and challenges in Jamaica's northwestern parishes resulting from, among other factors, rapidly deteriorating, archaic pipelines.

He was addressing a town hall on housing and land at the Harmony Beach Park in Montego Bay, St James, last Thursday.

"Jamaica is the land of wood and water, but there are some serious water challenges. The challenge that we have is how to make the water potable ... and how to move the water from where it is to where you live. The two problems we are having is the production... and... distribution of water," he said.

Holness pointed out that rectifying these issues will require massive investment in infrastructure.