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Prime Minister Andrew Holness - file photo
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Prime Minister Andrew Holness
The Government is to provide the National Water Commission (NWC) with financial assistance due to the additional losses it has incurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More Jamaicans have been unable to pay their monthly water bills due to loss of jobs and reduced income.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness is encouraging Jamaicans to pay their bills as soon as they are able. He says the revenue will allow the NWC to bring potable water to more communities.
"It will take, I would think, about a decade for us to reach this target, but if we stay the course because we have a plan; if people continue to pay their bills, pay them on time, pay something towards your bill, then the NWC will have the revenue to finance this, because the NWC should be a self-financing agency of government," he suggested Tuesday during the commissioning of the Mocho Water Supply System in Clarendon.
"Presently, this is not the case. With the COVID situation, the NWC's revenues have been cut and the government will have to, at some point, provide some support. But as our economy recovers and your revenues recover, in addition to the government's own capital expenditure, we will increase the rate of expansion of the water utility area," he revealed.
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