Tweet
the gorge
<span style="font-weight: bold">/<span style="font-size: 14pt">Reliable Water Supply Key To Jamaica's Development</span></span> Published: Wednesday | December 21, 20110 Comments Damien King 1 2 > Martin Baxter, Gleaner Writer
<span style="font-weight: bold"> THE JAMAICAN economy will not grow without a reliable islandwide water-distribution</span> system, says eminent economist and senior research fellow at Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI), Dr Damien King. Speaking at a Gleaner Editors' Forum, which examined Jamaica's post-election economic priorities, King explained the correlation between irregular water supplies and economic productivity. "When you apply it to its effect on productive capacity, it is not appreciated sufficiently how much it costs the country whenever it has water lock-offs and how productivity falls. You still have the same capital, you still have the same labour, you still have all the machinery, and productivity falls dramatically," he told the forum, which was held at The Gleaner's North Street, central Kingston, offices last Thursday. "You cannot have a growing economy unless there is reliable water. Cities and civilisations rise and fall based on their ability to deliver fresh water. So the debate should be about how to get reliable water supply to Kingston, for a city that is twice its size and for a country that wants to be twice as rich," King told the forum. The Gleaner invited American water expert, Dr Ronald Christensen, to assess the validity of King's comments, and this was his response: "The availability of reliable, good-quality water supplies has played a major role in the economic growth of the major metropolitan areas of the western United States, such as the Los Angeles area of California, Phoenix, Arizona, and Las Vegas, Nevada, since the early 20th century," said the Highland-based water expert in Utah. "Companies, industries, tourists, and people generally are attracted to places where clean, reliable water supplies are a given fact of life and economic growth is inhibited whenever availability of a reliable clean water supply is a problem. Adequate water storage, either treated or untreated, adequately sized pipeline transmission systems and, when needed, reliable pumping stations are key." Improvement project Responding to King's calls for a re-think of Jamaica's water-distribution systems, David Geddes, director of communications for the National Water Commission (NWC), said the commission had already embarked on a J$100-billion project that will make water lock-offs in all parishes a thing of the past over the next five years. "The National Water Commission recognises that development will not take place without adequate infrastructure and utilities in place, particularly water. Having recognised that, we have developed parish plans that encompass specific detailed plans for each parish. These plans look at how water resources will be taken to at least 85 per cent of the population," he told The Gleaner. An International Development Bank loan for US$133 million has already been secured, and the agreement for another loan was recently signed with Scotiabank for a further US$100 million. "We have already secured a significant amount of funding to undertake these plans; we believe that once these plans are in place NWC will be in a great position to market development to developers. We'll be able to show them, look, in these areas water will be available, so these areas are now prime areas for development. We see ourselves as facilitating national development through the provision of high-quality potable water." [email protected]] o k
<span style="font-weight: bold">/<span style="font-size: 14pt">Reliable Water Supply Key To Jamaica's Development</span></span> Published: Wednesday | December 21, 20110 Comments Damien King 1 2 > Martin Baxter, Gleaner Writer
<span style="font-weight: bold"> THE JAMAICAN economy will not grow without a reliable islandwide water-distribution</span> system, says eminent economist and senior research fellow at Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI), Dr Damien King. Speaking at a Gleaner Editors' Forum, which examined Jamaica's post-election economic priorities, King explained the correlation between irregular water supplies and economic productivity. "When you apply it to its effect on productive capacity, it is not appreciated sufficiently how much it costs the country whenever it has water lock-offs and how productivity falls. You still have the same capital, you still have the same labour, you still have all the machinery, and productivity falls dramatically," he told the forum, which was held at The Gleaner's North Street, central Kingston, offices last Thursday. "You cannot have a growing economy unless there is reliable water. Cities and civilisations rise and fall based on their ability to deliver fresh water. So the debate should be about how to get reliable water supply to Kingston, for a city that is twice its size and for a country that wants to be twice as rich," King told the forum. The Gleaner invited American water expert, Dr Ronald Christensen, to assess the validity of King's comments, and this was his response: "The availability of reliable, good-quality water supplies has played a major role in the economic growth of the major metropolitan areas of the western United States, such as the Los Angeles area of California, Phoenix, Arizona, and Las Vegas, Nevada, since the early 20th century," said the Highland-based water expert in Utah. "Companies, industries, tourists, and people generally are attracted to places where clean, reliable water supplies are a given fact of life and economic growth is inhibited whenever availability of a reliable clean water supply is a problem. Adequate water storage, either treated or untreated, adequately sized pipeline transmission systems and, when needed, reliable pumping stations are key." Improvement project Responding to King's calls for a re-think of Jamaica's water-distribution systems, David Geddes, director of communications for the National Water Commission (NWC), said the commission had already embarked on a J$100-billion project that will make water lock-offs in all parishes a thing of the past over the next five years. "The National Water Commission recognises that development will not take place without adequate infrastructure and utilities in place, particularly water. Having recognised that, we have developed parish plans that encompass specific detailed plans for each parish. These plans look at how water resources will be taken to at least 85 per cent of the population," he told The Gleaner. An International Development Bank loan for US$133 million has already been secured, and the agreement for another loan was recently signed with Scotiabank for a further US$100 million. "We have already secured a significant amount of funding to undertake these plans; we believe that once these plans are in place NWC will be in a great position to market development to developers. We'll be able to show them, look, in these areas water will be available, so these areas are now prime areas for development. We see ourselves as facilitating national development through the provision of high-quality potable water." [email protected]] o k
Comment