Samuda asks police to halt disconnection of St Mary residents from sewer system

Government Minister Karl Samuda has asked the police to bar the developers of Liberty Estate in Industry Pen, St Mary from disconnecting residents from the community’s unfinished sewer system.

Samuda, a minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, says Landmark Developers Limited has been charging residents for connections to an unfinished sewer system and disconnecting persons from the system for non-payment.

The lands on which the community was built is owned by the Government.

Samuda, who has responsibility for Water, Housing and Infrastructure, visited the community last Friday along with a team from his ministry, the National Water Commission, the St Mary Municipal Corporation and the National Environment and Planning Agency.

"What I have seen here is appalling," Samuda said.

"The sewer system has not been completed, resulting in raw sewage out in the open for everyone to see and smell. On top of that, persons have been disconnected from the system. They had sewage in their yards. This will not be allowed to continue,” Samuda said.

Former Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Dr Horace Chang had also been attending to the matter.

Samuda on Friday sought the intervention of the Port Maria Police saying the Minister of Housing has no arrangement with Landmark Developers Limited to manage or operate any sewage infrastructure for the community.

The police were asked to stop all tractors and bulldozers from entering the community for the purpose of disconnecting owners from the incomplete system or interfering with the land owners’ property or that of the Minister of Housing.

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