The National Water Commission (NWC) has acquired 12 new water trucks to support the restoration of water services to communities, following the disruption caused by the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

Acquired at a cost of $199 million, the trucks, which represent an added 146,000 litres of water-hauling capacity per cycle, will stabilise emergency supplies while permanent repairs to water systems continue. They will also strengthen the country’s long-term disaster response capacity.

Three of the units will be deployed to the Manchester and St. Elizabeth region; three to Hanover and Westmoreland; two to St. James and Trelawny; two to the North-East region (St. Ann/St. Mary adjacent zones); one to Kingston and St. Andrew, and St. Thomas; and one for Clarendon and St. Catherine.

Addressing the handover ceremony at the NWC’s Marescaux Road facility in Kingston on Tuesday (December 2), Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, explained that the units were acquired through an emergency procurement process, which took approximately two and half weeks.

He noted that units bought in the past utilising the standard procurement procedure took approximately one year.
He commended the staff at the NWC for ensuring that the accelerated process to procure the units was done according to the law.

The Prime Minister said the acquisition of the trucks will strengthen the country’s long-term disaster response capacity and increase the internal capacity of the NWC to deal with weather events such as droughts.

“These water trucks will serve the initial and immediate need, which is to provide water to those persons affected by the hurricane, but we will maintain them because we know that we’re going to have a potentially serious drought early next year when we enter the dry season. And so, these trucks will come in handy and, indeed, we may very well have to acquire more capacity,” he said.

Dr. Holness said the NWC will forge strategic partnerships with the private sector to build the reserve capacity that is needed in the country.

“We need a fleet of about 100 or more water trucks, and that really should be a private sector endeavour. Therefore, the NWC will be working even closer with the private sector to make sure that there is this standing capacity within the country, managed both by government, but mainly by the private sector that would have the time, resources, effort, and management to manage a fleet of 100 trucks, while the NWC can focus on what it should be focusing on, providing water to your homes,” he said.

Other speakers included Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Matthew Samuda, and Permanent Secretary, Wayne Robertson; and President (Acting), NWC, Kevin Kerr, and Vice President of Operations (Acting), Dr. Phillipa Campbell Francis.