NWC calls for bidding on US$40mn water project

Jamaica's national water commission (NWC) has launched a call for international bidding on a US$40mn project to improve water services quality, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced on its website. The project is divided into three categories: engineering and services; rehabilitation work; and performance studies covering unaccounted for reductions in supplies, the NWC's head of development and planning, Vernon Barnett, told BNamericas. The UK's KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), performed feasibility studies for the initiative in 2002, he said. Most of the project contracts are scheduled to be awarded in the first quarter of 2005, with works slated to begin by end-2005. Project contracts include works on leakage reduction at an estimated cost of US$15mn, water supply system rehabilitation at some US$10mn, rehabilitation of sewerage pumping mains at about US$2mn, supply of micro-meters for US$2mn, replacement of two mains at US$1mn each, and preparation of the sewerage action plan for about US$1mn. The IDB will provide the loan to fund this project. Further, the NWC has embarked on projects in conjunction with Jamaica's water resources authority (WRA) to more evenly distribute water throughout the island, BNamericas recently reported.