Gager makes another call for central sewerage system in Falmouth
FALMOUTH, Trelawny — Re-elected mayor of Falmouth and chairman of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation (TMC), Councillor C Junior Gager has made a passionate appeal for help to install a $100-million sewerage system in the burgeoning town.
The mayor, who wants help from central government, made the appeal shortly after he was sworn in for his third term as mayor, on Thursday.
The absence of a central sewerage system has been cited as an impediment to expanding and attracting more businesses to the historic town where, at times, untreated sewage runs along sections of the streets. The problem is especially noticeable during high tide or heavy rainfall.
Last year, Gager revealed that the local authority once operated a sewerage pump at the site of the previous Falmouth market. It pumped sewage from that facility and at least one other commercial entity, sending the effluent across town to a treatment plant in Vanzie Land.
However, after the Port Authority of Jamaica acquired the land to develop the cruise shipping pier, a new market was constructed at a different location in Falmouth.
The municipal corporation then made plans to establish a lift station at the corner of Tharpe Street to accommodate 15 households that steadily and bitterly complained of sewage woes. The idea was to pump the sewage to the Vanzie Land facility. But following the commissioning of a survey, it was discovered that 68 households had expressed an interest in connecting to the proposed system.
“We had written to NWC [National Water Commission] to get permission for the 15 but when it then became 68, NWC said they don’t have the space. We were supposed to get the rest of the money from TEF [Tourism Enhancement Fund, [an agency within the tourism ministry], to do the pipes and to build the lift station at the corner of Tharpe Street. But after the survey and the costing came to over $100 million, we had no funding to finance that,” Gager explained last year.
“The problem is now bigger than we thought,” he added.
He is now hoping the issue will be addressed once and for all under the new TMC sworn in on Thursday.
Another issue which dogged the previous TMC Administration was inadequate shelter to protect users of the recently established Falmouth Transportation Centre from the elements. Gager has promised to address the issue this time around.
“I am happy to be given the opportunity to complete the work I have started with the Tharpe Street Transportation Centre, it has come a far way. I seek your patience and support as we work tirelessly to get it fully covered,” he said as he expressed his gratitude to voters in the division for their continued support.
Former mayor of Falmouth Jonathan Bartley was elected to serve as Gager’s deputy.
Gager, Bartley and Councillor Garth Wilkinson are serving their fifth-consecutive term in the municipal corporation.
The TMC is made up of nine councillors: six from the Jamaica Labour Party and three from the People’s National Party.
First-time councillors are Liston Wauchope (JLP, Ulster Spring Division), Devon Davis (JLP, Albert Town), Roydell Hamilton (PNP, Martha Brae), and Fabian Davis (PNP, Duncans Division).
Dunstan Harper and Winston Smith, both JLP councillors and who represent the Sherwood Content and Lorrimers divisions, respectively, were also returned.