WESTERN BUREAU:

Dr Horace Chang, Member of Parliament (MP) for North West St James, said the government has engaged the services of China Harbour Engineering Company Limited to redesign the drainage system in Montego Bay to prevent further flooding.

Last November, following four hours of continuous rainfall, the second city experienced extensive flooding, which resulted in millions of dollars in damage to residential and commercial buildings.

"The government, having seen the flooding in Montego Bay, will for the first time, as part of the design contract, engage the engineering firm in looking at the entire drainage system for Montego Bay," said Dr Chang. "North Gully, South Gully, the gully that comes down by the airport that runs from Norwood, right by the airport round-a-bout and the one that runs from Flankers - those four drains will cause significant problems and will provide long-term challenges if we don't fix them."

The MP told citizens of St James at a recent town hall meeting in the parish, "We will have the appropriate study so that whether I get it done or somebody else comes, you will have a shovel-ready project to begin to improve the drainage system in Montego Bay and prevent the kind of flooding that took place there recently that flood out the whole town."

He continued, "I am sure that once we get the design and the study done, we will find the money to start that work. It is very critical to get the North Gully system, the South Gully system and those two drains out there (near the airport) looked at again."