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Shouts of joy and delight greeted the commissioning of a piped water system for Coco Walk, Williamsfield, St.Catherine on Thursday( May 14), after years of waiting. The commissioning resulted from a collaboration to rehabilitate the abandoned water system, between the Social Development Commission (SDC), the Williamsfield Citizens Association, the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) and Member of Parliament for North...

Jamaica is to benefit from a Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP), under the aegis of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) and the European Commission. This was announced by Minister of State in the Ministry of Water and Housing Hon. Everald Warmington, at the launch of the UN programme in Jamaica, at the offices of the Ministry, in New...

The Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) will be moving to prepare the technical plans and seek the necessary approvals for the proposed Luana Gardens housing development in St. Elizabeth, following the recent selection of a design of the project. After a three-month long competition, staged between December 1, 2008 and March 30 this year, the design submitted by Kingston 10...

Government is not imposing General Consumption Taxes (GCT) on electricity or water. Minister without Portfolio with responsibility for Information and Telecommunications, Daryl Vaz, has said that at no time was any reference made to imposing GCT on these utilities. In his budget presentation to the House yesterday and at a further press briefing this morning, Finance Minister Audley Shaw stated...

The Ministry of Water and Housing will host the 18th Conference of Ministers and High Level Authorities on Housing and Urbanisation in Latin America and the Caribbean (MINURVI), in July. Themes for the conference are: 'Financing Social Housing in view of the World Economic Crisis', and 'Housing in Risky Situations'. Presidency of the conference was officially transferred to Jamaica at...

Approximately 40 residents of Prickly Pole in the Caulderwood Division of South East St. Ann, were presented with free water tanks on April 17, which will enable them to store water for domestic use. The tanks were distributed by the St. Ann Parish Council under its black tank project. "This is actually our second set being distributed," Secretary / Manager...

Minister of Water and Housing, Dr. Horace Chang, is appealing to employees within the public utilities sector, to be protective of its infrastructure. This, he says, is with a view to being in a position to grasp opportunities when the current economic downturn comes to an end. Pointing to an efficient utilities sector as one that is critical to the...

Several minor water supply systems in rural St. Catherine are to be rehabilitated by the St. Catherine Parish Council, with over $4 million secured from the European Union (EU) to help execute the programme. This was announced by Mayor of Spanish Town, Dr. Andrew Wheatley, at the official commissioning into service of the Pear Tree Grove minor water supply on...

The Rural Water Supply Project has received an allocation of $70 million, as outlined in the Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. The project, which began in April 2002, aims to improve the basic sanitary/health conditions by increasing the coverage of potable water and sanitation services in poor rural areas as defined in the Jamaica Poverty Map...

The Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA) Water Supply Project has received a boost of $1.3 billion in the 2009/10 Budget. The project aims at providing an improved water supply system to the KMA, which includes Greater Spanish Town, South East St. Catherine and Kingston and St. Andrew, to keep pace with the rapid industrial and housing developments in these areas. A...

Residents of Pear Tree Grove and adjoining communities in north-eastern St. Catherine are the beneficiaries of a potable water supply system, which will be officially commissioned into service Friday (April 8). The system, which will benefit in excess of 200 households, was originally contracted by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) some 10 years ago at a cost of $6.2...

Minister of State in the Ministry of Water and Housing, Everald Warmington, has been elected President of the Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT) for the period 2009 to 2011. Mr. Warmington said that he will use his position to focus the UN body on the needs of countries in Latin American and the Caribbean, including...