NWA to clean section of Sandy Gully

The National Works Agency (NWA) says work is to begin this week to clean the Sandy Gully in the vicinity of Riverton City in St Andrew which has been in a deplorable state for years. 

Sections of the gully are filled with overgrown shrubs, mounds of silt, and littered with discarded, appliances and huge piles of garbage, which has led to stakeholders declaring it as a danger to residents in the area. 

“We’re gonna be spending about $6 million to undertake some cleaning ourselves that will be in the vicinity of two bridges. There is a bridge on Spanish Town Road over the Gully, and there is a bridge on Washington Boulevard over the gully,”  Chief Executive Officer of the NWA, EG Hunter said at a post-Cabinet press briefing this morning. 

He said the NWA has taken “special interest” in preserving the bridges which are susceptible to damage in the event that the gully is in spate.

However, he noted that more funds would be needed to clean the gully in its entirety.  

“The total cost to clean the Sandy Gully in the manner that we like to be able to clean it is a tremendously high figure,” he said. 

Hunter said the NWA had also sought to engage private companies over the years to take on the project. 

“We went to tender to have public interest for someone to spend their money and take out the material and use the material, because there is some value to the material. In the last four years, we did try on two occasions to see if we could interest in undertaking that, regrettably, we didn’t get any bids,” he said. 

But he said this approach is still being attempted. 

And as the Government ramps up its preparation for the hurricane season, which is projected to be very active, the NWA head said the agency has already activated its three-phase drain cleaning exercise. This involves drain cleaning in all constituencies from May to December. 

He said $1 million dollars have been allocated to all constituencies for this to be done. 

- Sashana Small

Follow The Gleaner on X and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.