Residents of White Water Meadows in Old Harbour, St. Catherine, protest outside of CanCara Development Ltd., on Cargill Avenue in Kingston. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
CANCARA DEVELOPMENT Company, which is responsible for the White Water Meadows Development in St. Catherine, says it has constructed a water and sewerage scheme to serve the community. However, its chief executive officer, Junior Lincoln, adds that it is awaiting approval from the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR).
In a statement, Mr. Lincoln said, "For the records, CanCara is the first and only privately-owned company which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the construction of water and sewerage facilities that will serve the western Spanish Town areas of St. Catherine. To date, this is the largest scheme of its kind in the Caribbean.
"The CanCara-constructed and privately-funded water and sewerage scheme, has been ready for over one year now to service the communities. However, we are unable to supply the service to our own homeowners as we need approval from the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) on the rates to be charged to residents who will be utilising these services.
NO ILLEGAL OPERATION
"Until the OUR provides us with the agreed tariff, it would be illegal for CanCara to charge residents for this service. As a result, our pumps have never been turned on and we now have hundreds of millions of dollars literally tied up in these facilities, which are urgently needed by residents in the White Water scheme.
"The provision of water and sewerage facilities has tradition-ally been the responsibility of the National Water Commission and other government-related agencies. With the government's decision to privatise these services, CanCara took the lead and invested millions of its own funds in the construction of the water and sewerage scheme. As housing developers, we have always been aware that water and sewerage problems have traditionally faced new housing developments.
"Consequently, when Govern-ment made the decision to privatise this service, we took the lead to invest in this area, in the interest of our home owners. This pioneering move was done, not only for the White Water develop-ment, but for the entire parish of St Catherine. These facilities will accommodate the construction of some 24,000 homes in what has become the fastest growing housing area in the country."
