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Martin Henry
On the night of August 14, 1933, there was disastrous flooding in Kingston and lower St. Andrew. The tipping point came after weeks of heavy rain. During the preceding day, 11.6 inches of rain had fallen, nearly five inches falling in one hour. Some 53 persons lost their lives that night as the gullies of Liguanea overflowed their banks ripping away houses and drowning the people in them.
That has never happened again. The gullies of Liguanea have been controlled, most of them walled and paved, to provide safe run-off. They are crossed by bridges with those tell-tale concrete rails, bridges which have stood the test of time. We drive over them and walk over them without a second thought. But if you look carefully you will see inscribed in the rails dates of the 1940s and 1950s.
The Bustamante Government which tamed the gullies of Liguanea with massive - and expensive - civil works was disdainfully called a 'Gully Government' by its detractors.
Now, a Bustamante successor, Prime Minister Bruce Golding, has announced that his Government plans to do major flood control work for Kingston, which has grown over the years to cover the whole of lower St. Andrew and has spread into the hills of upper St. Andrew. Some of that development has exacerbated the flooding problem which the geography of the Liguanea Plains invites. Indeed, across the island, 'development' has created flooding problems. So the prime minister will have to give serious attention to more than Kingston. Kingston is not Jamaica.
Borrow heavily
One big difference between the 'Bustamante Gully Government' and the 'Golding Gully Government' of promise is that, as far as I know, Busta did it from internal government revenues, while Bruce has already announced that he will need to borrow heavily for his project. Loan-financed 'development', which really took off in the 1970s and has grown progressively under every administration since then, has left Jamaica one of the most indebted 'developing' countries in the world.
Horse far down the road
Fiscal prudence would have suggested that portions of bauxite and tourism revenues would have been earmarked for infrastructural and educational development, using current income to prepare the country in physical and human resources for the future. But the horse is far down the road now.
A government of jobs, jobs and more jobs should carefully seek to use the stone of public works to kill two birds: infrastructural development and low-skilled job creation. Value must be obtained for money.
In addition to flood control, there is the crying need for the rehabilitation of the country's road network and the upgrading of public facilities. Human action has had a major negative impact on the environment. A comprehensive public works programme would have to include environmental rehabilitation and conservation. We have been crying about deforestation, with Jamaica said to have one of the highest rates in the world. The United States has reversed their net loss of forests with more board feet in forests now than in the 1950s. Government is the major landowner in Jamaica. Bringing idle state lands and idle hands together in a massive afforestation programme with the back-end bonus of commercial lumber harvesting, can't be beyond our reach.
The need to create, upgrade and maintain urban green space, which Golding's predecessor and mentor, Edward Seaga, would immediately understand, is a major public works need. Serious data is showing the value of green space in softening the rough edges, including crime and violence, of urban life. City and town rehabilitation across the country would create many jobs and improve the quality of life. Clean up, fix up, paint up - and green up - will not cost an arm and a leg. Green is the colour of Golding's party. He should have a vested interest in splashing it!
It is remarkable how when hurricanes visit we can mobilise reconstruction funds! Much of the damage done by hurricanes, and even common rainfall, comes from a failure to fix problems. Why don't we mobilise a 'Fix-Up Fund' for physical infrastructure and for the environment to mitigate the disaster impact of natural events? Prime Minister Golding's flood control plan for Kingston needs to go much further, both geographically and conceptually.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...cleisure2.html
On the night of August 14, 1933, there was disastrous flooding in Kingston and lower St. Andrew. The tipping point came after weeks of heavy rain. During the preceding day, 11.6 inches of rain had fallen, nearly five inches falling in one hour. Some 53 persons lost their lives that night as the gullies of Liguanea overflowed their banks ripping away houses and drowning the people in them.
That has never happened again. The gullies of Liguanea have been controlled, most of them walled and paved, to provide safe run-off. They are crossed by bridges with those tell-tale concrete rails, bridges which have stood the test of time. We drive over them and walk over them without a second thought. But if you look carefully you will see inscribed in the rails dates of the 1940s and 1950s.
The Bustamante Government which tamed the gullies of Liguanea with massive - and expensive - civil works was disdainfully called a 'Gully Government' by its detractors.
Now, a Bustamante successor, Prime Minister Bruce Golding, has announced that his Government plans to do major flood control work for Kingston, which has grown over the years to cover the whole of lower St. Andrew and has spread into the hills of upper St. Andrew. Some of that development has exacerbated the flooding problem which the geography of the Liguanea Plains invites. Indeed, across the island, 'development' has created flooding problems. So the prime minister will have to give serious attention to more than Kingston. Kingston is not Jamaica.
Borrow heavily
One big difference between the 'Bustamante Gully Government' and the 'Golding Gully Government' of promise is that, as far as I know, Busta did it from internal government revenues, while Bruce has already announced that he will need to borrow heavily for his project. Loan-financed 'development', which really took off in the 1970s and has grown progressively under every administration since then, has left Jamaica one of the most indebted 'developing' countries in the world.
Horse far down the road
Fiscal prudence would have suggested that portions of bauxite and tourism revenues would have been earmarked for infrastructural and educational development, using current income to prepare the country in physical and human resources for the future. But the horse is far down the road now.
A government of jobs, jobs and more jobs should carefully seek to use the stone of public works to kill two birds: infrastructural development and low-skilled job creation. Value must be obtained for money.
In addition to flood control, there is the crying need for the rehabilitation of the country's road network and the upgrading of public facilities. Human action has had a major negative impact on the environment. A comprehensive public works programme would have to include environmental rehabilitation and conservation. We have been crying about deforestation, with Jamaica said to have one of the highest rates in the world. The United States has reversed their net loss of forests with more board feet in forests now than in the 1950s. Government is the major landowner in Jamaica. Bringing idle state lands and idle hands together in a massive afforestation programme with the back-end bonus of commercial lumber harvesting, can't be beyond our reach.
The need to create, upgrade and maintain urban green space, which Golding's predecessor and mentor, Edward Seaga, would immediately understand, is a major public works need. Serious data is showing the value of green space in softening the rough edges, including crime and violence, of urban life. City and town rehabilitation across the country would create many jobs and improve the quality of life. Clean up, fix up, paint up - and green up - will not cost an arm and a leg. Green is the colour of Golding's party. He should have a vested interest in splashing it!
It is remarkable how when hurricanes visit we can mobilise reconstruction funds! Much of the damage done by hurricanes, and even common rainfall, comes from a failure to fix problems. Why don't we mobilise a 'Fix-Up Fund' for physical infrastructure and for the environment to mitigate the disaster impact of natural events? Prime Minister Golding's flood control plan for Kingston needs to go much further, both geographically and conceptually.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...cleisure2.html
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