Portmore councillors call for more funding to fix collapsed drains

 

Councillors in the Portmore City Municipality are expressing concern that they have not been allocated enough funding to repair collapsed drains. 

 

The councillors say the issue is pressing, particularly with the Atlantic hurricane season now underway. 

 

Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas explained that the approximately 15 major drains in the municipality are maintained by the National Works Agency, while the minor drains are the responsibility of the local authority. 

 

He said the Ministry of Local Government has directed that the Parochial Revenue Fund (PRF) allocations for May and June be diverted to carry out drain cleaning, but this is not enough given the scope of work.

 

"Actually, all the divisions within this municipality [are] having problems with collapsed drains. The PRF that comes to this council cannot take care of these collapsed drains. There are some of the collapsed drains that we are working on and we continue to work on them, and some of the major drains are in deplorable condition. When we actually ask our disaster coordinator, along with external people, to highlight the different areas that we have flooding, they came up with Gregory Park, Waterford, Braeton, Greater Portmore. Those areas have major, major drain problems," the mayor complained.

 

Mr. Thomas, who was speaking at a council meeting on Wednesday afternoon, appealed for more funding from the ministry as councillors begin drain cleaning in their divisions.

 

He also questioned what he claims is the absence of disaster mitigation works by members of Parliament in Portmore.