Construction mogul Millwood bows to residents in sewerage row
Published:Thursday | September 8, 2022 | 12:07 AMKimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporter
Michael Millwood’s construction company Millard Development has been forced to abandon a sewer main project along Constant Spring Road after staunch resistance from residents.
In a September 5 letter to Garth Jackson, the National Water Commission’s (NWC) vice-president of engineering and capital projects, Millwood advised that effective immediately, his company would abandon the connection residents had for weeks insisted was illegal.
“We wish to continue an amicable relationship with our neighbours and we feel this solution is in the best interest of all parties,” Millwood, the company’s managing director, said in the letter seen by The Gleaner.
Residents, through the Spring Way Citizens Association in Norbrook, had raised concerns about public health, the poor construction of the sewer line, and the need for an alternative path.
“A part of our growth is accountability, and I think we have yet to mature to that space. That’s one of the places I would love to see Jamaica move into,” president of the citizens’ association, Yashika Lopez, told The Gleaner on Tuesday.
“Yes, there are inconsistencies, and we understand what the inconsistencies are, but as a mathematician, I’m brought up to understand that one finds one’s errors because one needs to correct one’s errors ... ,” she added.
Residents had challenged Millard Development, NWC, and the National Works Agency to obey an enforcement notice issued by the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) to cease all works related to the gully sewerage pipeline.
The notice was issued on August 19.
The NRCA cited an illegal and improper design of the system in the notice and said that the pipeline posed a “serious threat” to natural resources and public health.
The agency had warned that failure to comply with the notice could result in prosecution.
Lopez noted that the gully carries an active volume of water and said that residents were concerned about the “poor” construction of the pipeline and the danger it posed to public health.
She said that the running of the sewerage pipeline along the surface of the gully amounted to poor oversight of the government agencies and noted that the enforcement notice was only as a result of the persistence and protests of residents who drew attention to the project.
They want the pipeline run on Norbrook Drive in keeping with the development plan for the area.