EAST PORTLAND:

Minister with responsibility for water, Matthew Samuda, has announced that the Fairy Hill to Boston and Castle to Long Bay pipeline water project for Portland has been secured with a contract signing valued at $60 million.

Samuda was addressing a massive crowd of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters at a combined constituency conference for East and West Portland at the Port Antonio High School on Sunday.

The minister, who spoke about the level of attention that Portland has gotten in terms of water projects over the years, said that West Portland Member of Parliament Daryl Vaz has been relentless in his efforts to ensure that piped water is made available to the people of his constituency.

“No parish can run good and its capital nuh have good pipe because the pipe dem a leak and di whole a dem old,” Samuda told the gathering.

“That is why dis Christmas mi a beg unnu likkle bligh with traffic, because we caan fix di pothole dem where we a go lay some new pipe, because di old pipe dem rotten and you naah get nuh water. We a put $45 million dollar worth of pipe into the ground in a Port Antonio dis Christmas. Labourites, there is a system that is very important, we know the Anchovy to Ghost Town line dem nuh good.

“That is why we have bought ... the pipes already and we gone to procurement ... so we a deal with equal opportunities. Dat line is going to improve water supply for another one thousand people in East Portland. That is why di Crystal Springs development is going through the last stages with minister of finance to invest $600 million for the people of West Portland,” he added.

Samuda, who spoke at length, noted that a request from Vaz (West Portland) and Ann Marie Vaz, MP for Eastern Portland, for the projects to begin, has resulted in the National Water Commission and Rural Water Supply’s decision to kick-start the project in January 2025 and lay over $50 million worth of pipes in both constituencies.

G.D.