| KINGSTON, May 19 (JIS): |
|
Opposition Spokesman on Mining, Ernest Smith
has appealed to the country’s bauxite companies to improve the
quality of their land reclamation exercise as there was need for improvement
in every bauxite producing parish, and in particular South Western
St. Ann. He was making his contribution to the 2004/05 Sectoral Debate in Gordon House on Tuesday (May 18). Mr. Smith proposed that mined-out lands should be used for the production of fruit tree crops such as avocado, pineapples, breadfruit, citrus, mangoes and coconut. He said rich topsoil now in abundance because of the construction of Highway 2000 and the North Coast Highway, should be transferred to mined-out lands and used to create soil depth to accommodate these fruit trees. He submitted that training facilities should be set up in South West St. Ann to equip young people for the mining and tourism sectors in the parish. He further requested that the Social and Economic Support Programme (SESP) for South West St. Ann be cancelled for the current financial year and that the government instead use those funds to fix roads, schools, community centres and provide for farmers as well as assist with indigent housing and general empowerment of the people through skills training. Mr.
Smith also expressed concerns about safety, stating that a number
of districts in the three bauxite-producing parishes had dangerous
pits adjacent to public roadways. He said it should be mandatory
for such openings to be fenced to the satisfaction of the National
Works Agency or the relevant parish councils. |
