Comprehensive cleaning plans for Lucea’s Venture Gutter

WESTERN BUREAU:

Lucea Mayor Sheridan Samuels says he will be collaborating with Hanover Western Member of Parliament Heatha Miller-Bennett to develop a comprehensive cleaning plan for the Venture Gutter, which runs through the town of Lucea and which has been blamed for recent episodes of flooding in the seaside town.

In a recent interview with The Gleaner, Samuels said the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), which he serves as chairman, has decided to team up with Miller-Bennett to address the perennial problem with the Venture Gutter, which he considers a pre-emptive move ahead of the next hurricane season.

“In discussions, the MP has disclosed that she has already written a project document for the cleaning of the Venture Gutter and the piles of bamboos from the rivers (the Riley River and Kew River) for the same amount of funding that we have cleaned it for before,” said Samuels, noting that the plan is to implement a more extensive cleaning programme.

“It was $2million that we used to clean it, but we want to do it more extensive now, so she is putting up another $2 million through her Community Development Fund (CDF) programme, and based on the estimates that she receives, we (the HMC) will put another two million dollars out of our Special Grant Resource Funding (SGR) to it to get them cleaned properly this time.”

PROGRAMME’S START DATE

According to Samuels, the new cleaning and maintenance programme will begin within the first two weeks of February. Another initiative for other drains in the town will be included in the overall plans.

“I want to commend the MP for her collaboration efforts with the HMC, and I am appealing to the MP for Eastern Hanover to enter collaborative agreements with the HMC in like manner,” said Samuels.

Samuels also made an urgent plea to the residents of Hanover to be patient, arguing that Hurricane Melissa had caused a lot of delay to some of the plans.

“Just bear with us for now. There are a lot of things that we want to do but cannot right now because of what Melissa has done to us, but we know what is out there to be done, and we are partnering with a number of agencies to carry out the task at hand as soon as possible,” he said.

However, as it relates to the Venture Gutter, Samuels considers it a priority, noting that had it not been clean on the eve of Hurricane Melissa last October, based on the magnitude of the hurricane, the results could well have been disastrous.

For months during the latter part of 2025, there were complaints and concerns from residents and business operators about the state of the Venture Gutter and the blockage of the waterways under the bridges at the Lucea East (or Riley River) and the Kew River, which are both at the eastern entrance to Lucea.

During bouts of rain last year, Lucea was flooded, resulting in major dislocation and traffic congestion. As a result, there was much jitter among residents as Hurricane Melissa approached Jamaica. On October 27, 2025, the day before the hurricane, all three waterways were cleaned, which many felt saved the town from another bout of flooding.

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