Profitability of NWC Will Result in More Projects Islandwide – Senator Samuda

The National Water Commission’s (NWC) profitability will result in further upgrading and expansion projects in communities islandwide, says Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda.

“My job… is to ensure that the NWC gets the resources required to put in place the infrastructure. Some of it can be self-financed, and that is why the point of the NWC being profitable for the first time in decades is so important; that gives us the fiscal space to invest more in water supply,” the Minister said.

“It gives us the fiscal space to ensure that we are able to make existing systems better, to make them more reliable. It gives us the fiscal space to ensure that communities that have done without water from they were founded, in some cases never had reliable potable water, we are able to extend the utility footprint of the NWC,” he added.

The Minister said the Government is committed to ensuring that the State-owned entity moves from being listed as a fiscal risk to being a fiscal asset.

Senator Samuda was speaking at a ceremony for the commissioning of the $22-million Sandside Storage Tank Replacement Project, held at the Trinity Primary School in St. Mary on April 13.

It is expected that more than 500 people will benefit from the project, which will primarily serve Sandside Heights and Trinity Heights. The project forms part of the Tank and Pump Rehabilitation for Operational Efficiency Improvement Programme, which involves 33 tanks, costing approximately $600 million.

“It is very important that the NWC is managed very carefully, as it has always been listed as a fiscal risk. If you think back on every IMF programme that Jamaica has had… every single one, the NWC was listed as a fiscal risk.

It is our commitment at the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, under the directive of the Prime Minister, to ensure that the NWC moves from being listed as a fiscal risk to being a fiscal asset of this country,” the Minister said.

“By 2030, we must connect the communities that do not have water and, ultimately, we have to set that target internally and within ourselves to try and do it every year,” he added.

Senator Samuda noted that the project represents another important day for the NWC and the residents who will benefit from the reliable water supply.

“The Sandside Storage Tank Replacement Project in Trinity Heights represents a significant investment in reliable water supply… . Reliable water supply is the base of human dignity, it is the base of every economy, and it is the base of comfort,” he said.

Meanwhile, he noted that $7 billion of capital investments will be made in fiscal year 2023/24 for water projects.

“Persons should know that last year, we deployed hundreds of projects, first time in NWC’s history that it was able to deploy the number of projects that it did, and it impacted 200,000 Jamaicans positively with water. That was $4 billion of work, the Minister pointed out.

“To give you the scale and an idea of what we are trying to accomplish this year, I can tell you that we are going to deploy $7 billion for water projects this year that will further benefit 150,000 Jamaicans,” he said.