Lucea’s mayor wants the NWA to clean up Venture Gutter
Published:Monday | September 16, 2024 | 12:06 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
Lucea Mayor Sheridan Samuels, who is also the chairman of the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), is calling for the National Works Agency (NWA) to do a better job as it relates to the cleaning of the Venture Gutter, the main drain that passes through the main commercial area in the parish capital.
Samuels said the HMC has been cleaning and maintaining the lower sections of that drain for several months without any assistance from the NWA, even though the NWA is responsible for cleaning the drain.
“We have seen where the rain fell recently, and the Venture Gutter was a small way from overflowing its banks, so we see where danger lurks if that should happen, as the business areas and the market in the town of Lucea would be flooded,” said Samuels.
“The Venture Gutter is not the direct responsibility of the HMC, however, we have placed a maintenance team inside there to clean one section, we do not have the resources, but we are trying to get the resources from the Ministry of Local Government, and also, we have approached the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), because we have to use all we can to get this work done, as a preventative measure,” added Samuels.
According to Samuels, the HMC has been begging for some assistance from the NWA, as efforts to get an approval from the Ministry of Local Government to use the HMC’s special grant-funding (SGF) to do the work was not approved.
“The NWA has not done anything to this drain from 2017, even though it is their responsibility,” said Samuels, who also noted that the HMC has been begging and pleading for the drain to be maintained, as residents living in proximity to the drain have been pleading for something to be done about it.
“I don’t want when anything happens (flooding caused from lack of cleaning of the drain) they go and take photographs and call my name,” said Samuels, noting that most residents in the town are not aware that it is the NWA that is responsible to clean and maintain that drain.