Ministry of Water & Housing

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Water and Housing Minister, Dr. Horace Chang, has advised that a master plan is being developed to increase the delivery of potable water to rural communities.

This initiative, he said, is being undertaken by the Rural Water Supply Company, formerly Carib Engineering Corporation Limited (CECL), and is in keeping with the government's goal of providing all rural communities with access to the amenity by 2015.

Speaking at the two-day Caribbean Sanitation Workshop at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston on Tuesday (April 29), Dr. Chang said statistics showed that less than 50 per cent of rural communities have access to potable water, and many residents in these areas still rely on traditional means of sourcing the commodity. The Rural Water Supply Company, he said, has been working to improve on this situation.

"They have been quite successful, working hard with limited resources, and have taken quite a number of schemes to rural Jamaica. They are currently involved in developing the master plan, which we expect them to complete during the course of this (2008/09) fiscal year, to lay the foundation for taking potable water into all of rural Jamaica," Dr. Chang stated.

In acknowledging challenges which may arise in the process, the Minister said creative ways will have to be found to get quality water to every rural household.

"I am confident that the agency will have the master plan in place, and (that) we will be able to follow a systematic programme to achieve our goal by 2015 of getting water out there to rural Jamaica. We have a good team, we have the commitment, and the government is willing to pursue that policy," Dr. Chang stated.

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