Warmington warns illegal gully settlers to leave

The tough-talking politician who is known for not mincing his words, served notice during the official handover ceremony of the Myton Gully Drainage Development Project in Old Harbour this morning. 

“Those of us who have been inconvenienced up at Big Pond in a little while it will be something of history,” said Warmington, who has been the MP since 2002. “The only problem we have is that a lot of citizens that have built shops and business place on the river bank in Bannister, Davis, are in trouble… because we advised them years ago you can’t build on the gully bank whether shop or house because there’s a big project coming.

“I have no intention of allowing just a few trespassers to threaten the livelihood of others They were told, and I am sure people are waiting to get big compensation for shop and houses on the gully bank… they were warned long before not to put it there.”

According to Warmington, the current situation is a direct threat to advancing the project with phase two – from Claremont to Big Pond – ostensibly on hold until the settlers are removed.  

“So the issue is the World Bank doesn’t want to do the project with all these houses along the gully bank. And the World Bank gonna expect us… the government to remove and compensate those persons on the gully bank. I don’t see the government have money to compensate over 200 people living on the gully bank illegally. So I do hope that those on the gully bank who capture will think seriously about others and start relocate and allow us to deal with the problem in Big Pond with the flooding.” 

A major aspect under the Myton Gully drainage improvement project is the modernization of the Myton Gully Bridge – colloquially refer to in these parts as ‘Mighty Gully Bridge’ – formally completed in the summer of last year. The old and outdated single-lane structure was demolished and replaced with a modern dual carriage way with pedestrian sidewalks. It represents phase one of a JMD$248 million expansion of the Big Pond/Myton Gully drainage improvement project funded by the World Bank at a cost of US$8 million. This amount represents phase one between Claremont Housing Scheme and the Myton Gully bridge and also includes widening of the earth drain. 

When complete, Warmington said, the entire channel from Big Pond to the sea will be concretised similar to Sandy Gully in Kingston. Among the main objects too is that the channel will have the capacity to retain the highest average amount of rainfall recorded in the last century. Since the undertaking of the project, the Big Pond area continues to experienced flooding but the impact has been below previous levels in past years. 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness stated that the government is cognizant of protecting the environment while the necessary developments are taking place. But also urge citizens to take personal responsibility too.

“So man in trying to get his own convenience is also not only destroying nature but is also inconveniencing himself. So it requires us to think in a broader way about development,” he said. “We have to all start to think how we protect the environment, not just for our personal convenience but how do we protect the environment for the benefit of the community. But more than that for the benefit of generations yet to come. It is our duty that each and every one of us here that we have to start think in this way. 

“Yes I understand, as your member of parliament Everald Warmington pointed out, that there are persons living on the gully bank. And yes I can understand why that is the case… but increasingly we are seeing that our private decisions about where we choose to live and how we choose to live is having serious public, national and global consequences which comes back to threaten our own shelter because that gully bank which you have chosen to live it is not safe.”