US$8m ‘risk reduction’ for Big Pond-Myton Gully improvement project

This was revealed by representatives of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) during a recent stakeholder’s community meeting at the Davis Primary School.

Based on information examined by Old Harbour News on its website, an estimated US$8 million has been pre-approved by the World Bank under the international lending institution’s disaster vulnerability reduction programme for Jamaica.

The project is set to be executed in two phases. Phase one will see major re-engineering of the area of Big Pond to Myton Gully Bridge, while the final scope of work will continue along the same channel to the sea at Old Harbour  Bay.

This, when complete, will mitigate against perennial flooding of Big Pond and surrounding areas during the rainy season. As a result the Myton Gully will undergo massive expansion to accommodate the increase in inflows, while the out-dated narrow bridge on the outskirt east of the town centre will be replaced by a more modern structure in keeping with the rapid development of Jamaica’s fastest growing community.

In April a technical team from the World Bank conducted a site visit of the area and has made a few recommendations relative to the design and execution of the project. The design was done by the National Works Agency (NWA) engineers who have been studying the area for the better part of 10 years now.

However, at the most recent community meeting, residents voiced their opinions with regards to the best possible approach.

Communities along the channel to be impacted are Bullet Tree, Bannister, Claremont, Succaba South East, Marlie Acres, Old Harbour Villa and Old Harbour Bay.

At the meeting, which also included elected councillors, and representatives from community development committees (CDCs), residents were told that the impact of the exercise will be minimal.

However, where there might be possible loss of property each “individual landowner” will be compensated accordingly.

Seedlings will be given to landowners who lose fruit trees in the process, in addition to financial compensation,” declared JSIF social officer Dainty Barrett-Smith.

According to Barrett-Smith they have already identified 19 households along the channel that could be impacted. However, they will be conducting another round of verification exercise to establish a full list of affected properties.

“We are not sure yet but in some cases if it extends beyond the easement then we will deal with it (compensation) on a case by case basis. But as it is now we expect to stay within the easement regulations which says that up to three metres from the channel is considered easement,” Barrett-Smith said.

Community members will notice increase activities in the coming weeks, as several site visits and surveys will be conducted to properly advise the technical team.

“That will better inform us as to who is going to be impacted and how,” Barrett-Smith told the gathering before adding “remember we have an original design, it might change a little”. 

“The next step is that we have to confirm who is affected and how because if we don't close that off we cannot start the work, that's World Bank's rule. We cannot break ground until we've covered and signed off and everybody is happy with what was decided. So it’s important from now for everybody who is affected to come forward and let us know.”

The design will incorporate the rehabilitation of other smaller drains that will take surface water underground via pipelines and into the main drain.

But Phillip Dawkins, who is an executive member of the Bois Content CDC, is not too comfortable with this approach.

With approximately 2,000 acres of mountainous terrain above Big Pond the size of the main channel must be big enough to withhold the vast deluge anticipated, Dawkins suggests.

“NWA did take that into account. The drain from Big Pond is what we would call an overflow. So once the water level reaches at certain points it would trigger to send the water down to Myton Gully. So the technocrats have taken into account the past history of the water flow of the area,” said Garey Duncan, project engineer at JSIF.

But Dawkins remains strident in his opinion, contending that using pipes to lead some of the water into the main drain can become clogged and difficult to clear when required.

“From an engineering point of view I don't think pipes are suitable,” he cautioned.

"It's not a matter of what we can see today it's what that can happen down the road. We are talking about a long term thing that we don't have to spend a lot of excess money and I think that's what this country needs to do, because what I'm talking about is economic problems. We don't have a lot of money.”

Whilst a timeline for implementation is yet to be determined, Old Harbour News understands this project is a high priority for the Holness administration because the loan will expire in 2022.

A World Bank status report on the project published January 8, 2019 noted: “There has been significant progress in implementation, however the implementation timeframe is falling behind its original schedule due to delays in the design of the Big Pond-Myton gully works and purchase of emergency fire-fighting equipment.”