NIC Establishes New Office in Braes River

The National Irrigation Commission (NIC) has established a new office in Braes River, St. Elizabeth.
The disclosure was made by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NIC, Stanley Rampare, at a stakeholders’ workshop hosted by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), on Wednesday (October 21) at the Black River Parish Library, St. Elizabeth.
“We did that because we have several complaints from the owners of lands, that it is a long distance to travel to Watchwell to do business with the NIC, and at great expense we have created this office,” Mr. Rampare said.
One of the objectives of the new office, known as The National Irrigation Training Office, is to work with NEPA to set up quick responses to pollution, and to facilitate the collection of samples. The NIC has the responsibility of managing the upper and lower morass of the Black River Basin wetlands, to keep the waterways clean and clear to reduce incidents of flooding.
“The area was gazetted and NIC was put in control of maintaining the drainage. That is our main function, to keep the waterways clean and clear, so that incidents of flooding would be reduced,” he explained.
The workshop was staged against the background of a fish kill that occurred on September first in Black River, as a result of pollution. It was held in collaboration with the NIC, and with participation from stakeholders from communities in the Black River Basin.