St Catherine PC chides NWA for neglecting drain cleaning in the parish

SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine:

THE ST Catherine Parish Council has taken the National Works Agency (NWA) to task for failing to undertake flood mitigation in the parish.

At a recent sitting of the council, an irate chairman, Dr Andrew Wheatley, bemoaned the agency's performance.

"I cannot list one drain along the NWA-controlled road that has been cleaned. I cannot list one road where the verge has been shaved or cut, there is limited or no patching at all," Wheatley argued.

Unsightly entrances

In underscoring Wheatley's comments, Owen Palmer, councillor for the Homestead division and deputy chairman of the council, said the entrances to Spanish Town were unsightly.

"Right now the roundabout is in a terrible state. You need to operate differently. You need to represent the parish better," Palmer stated.

At the same time, Dr Raymoth Notice, councillor for the Bog Walk division, questioned the collaboration between members of parliament (MPs) and the NWA.

"We understand that each MP is given $6 million. We don't know them to be any agency on their own; they have to work with the NWA. How much money have you got from the nine MPs in St Catherine?" Notice asked.

Lack of funds

In a guarded response, Courtney Mullings, NWA's assistant parish manager, St Catherine, indicated that lack of funds has dogged the agency's operation.

"Mitigation programmes take money. The agency cannot be blamed when there is no money to administer any form of drain cleaning. We, like any other stakeholder, need cash to care. If we submit a programme and we await funding to execute the works, we cannot be blamed," explained Mullings.

He, however, indicated that a drain-cleaning exercise had started in Portmore. The agency, he added, was in dialogue with the MPs in relation to a mitigation programme to be funded by the recent allocation.

"Some have already started, like in Waterford. We have started Burke Road and we are awaiting the lists from the MPs and the councillors so that we can move forward," said Mullings.

- Karen Sudu