Works Minister promises multi-pronged fix for Montego Bay flooding

 

 

After repeated flooding left residents of Catherine Hall and West Green fearing every downpour, the Works Minister is promising relief from the recurrent flooding in Montego Bay, St. James.

 

Speaking during a tour of the western end of the island, Minister Robert Morgan confirmed that immediate civil works and strategic long-term planning are underway to address the city's drainage vulnerabilities. 

 

Minister Morgan said a central component of the immediate civil works is the ongoing construction of the connector road linking Fairfield to Howard Cooke Boulevard, situated adjacent West Green.

 

"There has been some flooding and some challenges for the residents in Catherine Hall, and a part of the solution is this road, but that's not the only solution. In December we would receive the drainage study, and that study will be then examined and then we will decide on how we're going to implement the solutions that the drainage study is going to put forward."

 

"It's not just a drainage study for Catherine Hall and West Green," Minister Morgan stressed. "It's a drainage study for the entire Montego Bay. So it deals with the North Gully, the South Gully, it deals with the Montego River and several other water features in the city. We expect that when that work is done, a lot of the challenges that Montego Bay has, as it relates to flooding, will be resolved."

 

The residents have blamed the chronic flooding on works being done on the Montego Bay Perimeter Road, a claim the National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC) has refuted. 

 

The company said an engineering assessment has identified a combination of extreme weather conditions, geographical vulnerabilities and limitations within the existing drainage infrastructure as the principal factors contributing to the flooding.