KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government is investing significantly in the country’s water sector infrastructure to improve resilience.
Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Matthew Samuda, addressing the Jamaica Institution of Engineers (JIE) on Wednesday, said the investments are being undertaken in initiatives focusing on the country’s distribution network, irrigation capacity, decentralized storage at community levels, and improving processing capacity as well as upgrading of approximately 100 pumping stations and development of the Mahogony Vale Dam Project.
Samuda said the Non-Revenue Water Programme (NRWP) implementation has been a critical component of building resilience.
“In 2015, Kingston and St. Andrew’s non-revenue water source was 72 percent. We are happy to report that we’ve reduced that figure to 38 percent. In essence, we are pumping significantly less water into the ground. Now, that is one of the major elements of resilience.”
Samuda said the NRWP is also being undertaken in Portmore, St. Catherine.
“We are currently out to tender for a national non-revenue water partner. This is done as a PPP (Public-Private Partnership) with a significant investment in our infrastructure. It increases storage, revitalizes your distribution network, installs pressure monitoring gauges, and changes the meters at the household level.
“This has given us significant success in a damage reduction, wasted water, [and] electricity bills. So, your non-revenue water program is priority number one,” Samuda said, adding that significant investment is being made in the irrigation capacity.
“US$50 million is being deployed into the irrigation systems – Essex Valley in St. Elizabeth. We are also negotiating with a partner to implement the Pedro Plains Irrigation Systems,” he said, noting that the contract for developing the Content Water Treatment Plant has been signed.
“This will put some 15 million gallons daily into the Corporate Area and significantly reduce the water challenges experienced throughout Kingston and St. Andrew and, indeed, Portmore. [This is] a major investment of some US$77 million.”
Samuda told the JIE that the Floating Solar Plant Project for the Mona Reservoir is slated to get underway within weeks.
“The project will see a floating solar system being installed at approximately US$60 million, producing 45 megawatts of clean energy. The Government of Jamaica is not making this investment; it is being done as a PPP, and the ultimate value to the [National] Water Commission would be more than one billion Jamaican dollars a year.
“That is approximately what our energy bill is for a month,” he said, adding that the government has initiated the preparation and planning stage for the Mahogany Vale Dam project, which is an integrated water and energy project intended to increase resilience in the eastern end of the island significantly.
The project was first proposed in a 1967 report as a possible solution for augmenting the potable water supply for the city of Kingston.
“This project creates massive opportunities. It’s a huge dam, [and] depending on the designs, you could see in the range of one billion US dollars invested. It builds energy and water resilience, certainly for the next century, and it is one that we are committed to working with our partners. Certainly, the GCF (Green Climate Fund) and others in the international sphere to get financing to ensure that our assessments of the hydrology are correct to do the technical work on the land usage and to ensure the relocation of persons.”
Samuda said Prime Minister Andrew Holness has instructed that an Inter-Government Working Group be convened for the project.
“We are working through that process, and significant updates will come in the coming months,” he said, adding the government is committed to undertaking strategies to build the country’s water resilience.
“There can be no doubt that our climate has changed, that our weather patterns have shifted, and that we are facing an existential threat to our way of life,” he said, acknowledging that over the last 12 months, Jamaica has been in the throes of one of the worst droughts in the country’s history.
“Between October and March, that six-month period saw the least rainfall recorded cumulatively during those six months. In July and August, we saw the two hottest months in our history,” Samuda said.
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