Great River To Lucea Water Supply Project On Schedule

The US$39 million Great River to Lucea Water Supply project in Western Jamaica, which is being done through two contracts, is progressing ahead of schedule and within budget.
Minister of State for Water, Harry Douglas, gave this update during a press conference at the Great River Water Treatment Plant on the border of St. James and Hanover, on Friday, January 30.
The Great River to Lucea Water Supply project was launched by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson on March 14, 2003, and was scheduled at the time to be completed in 18 months.
Mr. Douglas said that the first contract, the extension of the treatment plant, which began on April 6, last year, was on schedule and the civil works was 70 per cent complete. The mechanical and electrical works are 57 per cent complete and two new water pumps were recently installed and are in service.
He said that for this phase of work, with a completion date for October 6, 2004, the contractors were ahead of schedule.
The second contract involves the installation of 21,914 metres of 500mm-diameter ductile iron pipeline from Great River to Lucea. This work began on July 21, 2003 with a completion date set at December 21, 2004. Information released states that 12,730 metres of pipeline have already been laid with 6,880 metres of sectional pipeline already pressure tested.
Overall progress of this phase of the work is 58 per cent complete and is four months ahead of schedule.
Mr. Douglas noted that the existing Great River Water Supply System was conceived with the expectation that the facilities would eventually be expanded in response to population trends, and extended to serve new areas. For the Great River to Lucea project to be accomplished, the capacity of the water treatment works at the Great River is being extended from a 45 million litre per day facility to a 67.5 million litre per day system.
The project is being funded by the Jamaican and French governments, with the contractors being SOGEA/SATOM, a member of the VINCI group out of France.
Meanwhile, National Water Commission Vice President in charge of the Western Region, Florence Logan, pointed out that the life span of the facilities being put in was 25 years, adding that the NWC was taking steps to ensure that its projects exceeded the projected life expectancy, by making sure that all the water produced was accounted for and billed.
“Part of our futuristic view of water is to make sure that we have no losses, or losses are kept to a minimum, because when we do that we can extend the life of the demand for that project,” he said.