No water for housing projects

MANDEVILLE, Manchester:

Developers and other persons who might be contemplating constructing major housing facilities in Manchester were last week put on notice that water will not be available to them from the National Water Commission (NWC) for at least another two to three years.

This was disclosed by secretary/ manager of the Manchester Parish Council, Alfred Graham, during the October monthly meeting.

Graham read a letter from the NWC informing the council that due to financial constraints and the lack of water resources no further extension of the NWC pipelines would be undertaken. He said the NWC indicated that the entire island would be affected by these new policies.

Frightening fact

The announcement drew the wrath of the councillors, who had a long list of communities which have been waiting for years for the NWC to make the commodity available to them.

Brenda Ramsay, mayor of Mandeville, said this was "frightening", given the importance of water to the residents and the development of the parish.

Her concerns were also echoed by other councillors who told The Gleaner that future investments would be affected.

Ramsay and the other councillors were particularly concerned about the effect the NWC's suspension of extending its pipelines would have on the 600-unit Perth housing scheme, which is being constructed by the National Housing Trust in the parish.

In the meantime, councillor for the Grovetown division, Iceval Brown, is demanding that the NWC restore and return control of the parish tanks located across the parish to the Manchester Parish Council. The tanks, which once supplied various communities with water over the years, were taken over by the NWC in 2003. However, they have since fallen into disrepair and have been out of service for a number of years.

- Angelo Laurence