Rural Water Supply Project Gets $179 Million

A budget of $179 million has been allocated to complete projects under the Rural Water Supply Project in the 2008/09 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives.
Implemented under the Ministry of Water and Housing, the project receives funding from the Government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The original duration of the project was from April 2002 to December 2006, but there have been several extensions, with the last taking place for the period March 2007 – March 2008. The initial cost of the programme was set at $597.5 million in 2002, and expenditure up to March 2008 was just over $463 million.
The Rural Water Supply Project aims to improve the basic sanitation and health conditions by increasing the coverage of potable water and sanitation services in poor rural areas, as defined in the Jamaica Poverty Map (JPM).
Achievements up to March 2008, included the completed delivery of pipes and fittings for the White Horses Valley water supply scheme, and the commissioning of the Cotterwood, Pamphret/Botany Bay and White Horses Water Supply Schemes. Beneficiaries in the communities impacted by the developments have been trained and the Project Implementation Unit has been provided with computers and equipment.
The targets for 2008/09 include the completion of the office buildings for the Cotterwood, Pamphret/Botany Bay and White Horses Water Supply Schemes, a civil works for the Gravel Hill and Mile Gully/Warwick Castle Water Supply Scheme and the construction of 15 sanitation solutions.