Water woes hit Negril hotels
Published:Wednesday | April 3, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
Hoteliers in Negril, Westmoreland, have found themselves at the mercy of water truckers as they are being forced to pay out millions of dollars monthly as a result of a shortage of the prized commodity in the resort town.
Over the past two months, the three Sandals properties in Negril have spent an average of $$22 million for trucked water.
That figure is almost $20 million more than the amount the three hotels pay the National Water Commission monthly. Currently, the two bigger properties - Sandals Negril and Beaches - pay an average of $2.5 million per month.
The hotel group is among several resorts located in the area forced to purchase water in order to remain open, particularly during the winter tourist season.
MEETING CALLED
The situation has got so bad, Minister of Water Robert Pickersgill is expected to host a closed-door meeting with the stakeholders in the town today.
"We are paying $20,000 per truck, and we're bringing in about 10 to 12 trucks per day for our three hotels," said Wayne Cummings, director of business processes and administration, who noted that his resorts have storage, but have never been able to fill the tanks sufficiently because of the consistent shortage.
Cummings said the pricing started at $12,000 per truck, moved up to $15,000, and is now at $20,000 in less than a month.
"I have never seen anything like this before. There are millions of gallons of water running out of Great River daily, so I don't understand why there is a shortage of water," argued Cummings, adding that Negril's water system has two heads, one that comes from Sheffield in Westmoreland and the other from Lucea, Hanover.
He said for months, hoteliers and residents of West End in the town have been struggling to keep their businesses open.
NOT ALONE
His comments were cemented by owner and operator of the small boutique property, Sandy Haven Resort, Ann Ueker.
Ueker, whose hotel is located along the seven-mile beach, said she uses four to five truckloads of water per week, dependent on the number of guests.
"Our staff don't have water at their homes either," she stated, adding that her water bill was not coming in at any less.
President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, Evelyn Smith, who is also a hotelier at West End, said the situation has progressively got worse throughout the year, affecting approximately 5,000 rooms in the area.
"We urgently need solutions to the crisis," said Smith, adding that she was sure the Ministry of Water must have a cadre of technical experts capable of finding an immediate solution to ensure that the resort area, which welcomes 28 per cent of all visitors to the island, does not fail as a consequence.
Checks made at a number of properties revealed that some hotels of 18 to 25 rooms were paying up to $1 million to truck water monthly.