Minster of State, Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, Hon. Richard Azan says that a pre-hurricane season islandwide drain cleaning programme worth $ 65 million is to begin shortly.
Minister Azan says that this is the first of three planned mitigation programmes for the Financial Year 2015-2016. The other two are scheduled for August and December this year.
He says the Programme was developed by the National Works Agency’s parish and regional teams after detailed assessment and consultation with stakeholders within the parishes. The Programme seeks to address the cleaning of the critical drains within the parishes as we prepare for the upcoming hurricane season.
The drains and gullies identified for cleaning are located in flood prone areas across the island. In the South East Region, they include earth drains located between Stony Hill and Toms River, Rock Hall to Parks Road; St. Christopher to Glengoffe and Guava Ridge to Silver Hill Gap.
Earth drains in St. Catherine will also be addressed. These include drains along the Spanish Town to Naggo Head, Ferry to Twickenham Park, Gutters to Free Town and Bamboo to Worthy Park corridors.
In Kingston, the Mona Road drain, Marescaux Road drain, Barbican Gully and Stand Pipe Gully will be cleaned. While in St. Thomas, Brown’s Gully, Prospect Scheme drain and Farm Store drain are among the locations identified for cleaning.
Earth drains in Albert Town, Ulster Spring, Stewart Town and Jackson Town, Trelawny are slated for cleaning while in St. James drains located in Adelphi, Kings Gate, Anchovy and Johns Hall will be addressed.
