WHAT’S WITH PORT ANOTNIO? Minister of Water Robert Pickersgill (centre) joined by MP for east Portland, Lynvale Bloomfield (right) and representatives from NOWAL construction, Vinci construction and the NWC on a tour of the $1.83 billion water, sewage and drainage project in Port Antonio on Wednesday, January 14 . The project has had some bad publicity because of alternating dust and mud nuisance, depending on the weather, in Port Antonio late last year. The delays and inconvenience caused were said to have put a damper on shopping and led to lower than expected sales for businesses in the town, over the Yuletide period. West Portland MP, Daryl Vaz (JLP) complained about it and called on Port Antonio mayor, Benny White to step aside over the handling of the problematic project. But his counterpart from the governing PNP, Lynvale Bloomfield dismissed Vaz’s charges and said the project was proceeding to plan. On Wednesday, Pickersgill said delays had been caused by the underground cables and pipes of utility companies but that the project would come in under budget. The work which started in July 2013 on phase one (water and drainage), was scheduled to be finished in September 2014 and was later pushed to December 2014. Now Mr Pickersgill says the work will be completed for February 2015.
