The National Works Agency (NWA) has completed drainage improvement work in several problem plaque communities in St Elizabeth as part of its preparations for the hurricane season
Among the communities where work has already been completed are Holland Bamboo Avenue, Balaclava, New Market, Santa Cruz and Middle Quarters. These areas have perennially been affected by flooding resulting from heavy rains.
Community Relations Officer for the NWA’s Central Region, Howard Hendriks says the work completed in these communities forms part of a 2.28 million dollar programme currently being executed in St Elizabeth. This programme is expected to be completed at the end of this month.
In the meantime, Mr Hendriks says work has restarted on the multi-million dollar drainage improvement project for Treasure Beach. Under this phase of the works, a second bridge is being built to form part of the gully channel. This structure is expected to be completed by the middle of July.
The work is being done through a nine million dollar contract which was recently awarded to V.O. and J. Heavy Equipment Limited. The Treasure Beach community was severely affected by flood waters during the passage of Hurricanes Emily and Wilma. Damage to homes and businesses was estimated at millions of dollars.
Last year the NWA completed work on the first of the two bridges that are being built to facilitate the channelling of excess water from the Great Pond, which has been cited as the main cause of flooding in the community. The first bridge was built at a cost of approximately seven million dollars.
