‘Gov’t neglect has left Jamaica unprepared for this drought’ — PNP

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The People’s National Party (PNP) is accusing the Holness administration of failing to adequately prepare Jamaica for the ongoing drought, arguing that years of underinvestment and neglect in the water sector have worsened the current crisis. In a release on Thursday, the PNP said it was “gravely concerned” by what it described as the Government’s “slow, reactive and inequitable handling” of the drought, which it said was not an unforeseeable act of nature but the result of longstanding failures in the water sector. The party pointed to the Hermitage Dam, which it said is now at 31.4 per cent of capacity, and warnings from the Meteorological Service that Jamaica is on course to surpass the historic 2022 drought.

It also noted that prohibition orders remain in force across seven parishes, while the Government has acknowledged that traditional rainfall patterns can no longer be relied upon. The PNP said the drought had exposed several structural weaknesses, including high levels of non-revenue water, with roughly three million gallons lost or unbilled for every four million gallons produced by the National Water Commission (NWC). The Opposition also criticised the lack of linkages among more than 1,000 independent water systems across the island, arguing that water supplies in some areas cannot be transferred to communities facing shortages.

It said the Government had also failed to make adequate use of natural water sources such as wells and criticised the shelving of the Rapid Response Unit, which it said had provided affordable water trucking to communities in crisis. According to the PNP, residents in some hard-hit communities are now paying as much as $50,000 for a single truckload of water. The party further raised concerns about what it described as an underdeveloped energy-efficiency programme at the NWC, noting that the commission spends roughly $1 billion a month to pump water.

The PNP said the Government’s own figures demonstrate the scale of the current response, with $86 million already spent on emergency measures and the total projected cost potentially reaching $500 million. It also highlighted the need for water tanks at schools, saying the minister had indicated that as many as 1,000 schools could require tanks ahead of the start of the new academic year. The Opposition said the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ…