The project is part of the NWC's multibillion-dollar Kingston Metropolitan Area Transmission Mains Replacement and Upgrading Programme.

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Matthew Samuda, who made the disclosure, said the Ferry to Rock Pond main will be the primary feeder line for Red Hills and surrounding communities and will “fundamentally change water supply in this entire area”.

“The supply has never been sufficient for the people of Red Hills and we are going to correct that. We have budgeted and allocated and have completed the final schematics… for the Ferry to Rock Pond Project,” he informed.

“We are pulling water from several sources to ensure the people of Red Hills, the people of Stony Hill and all those who are [supplied] by Constant Spring Pond and by the Rock Pond reservoir get better water,” he added.

Samuda was addressing the NWC's commissioning ceremony for the Sterling Castle Heights and Padmore pipeline replacement projects, held on June 8 at the Padmore Seventh-day Adventist Church in St Andrew.

He noted that the Ferry to Rock Pond system is one of two major projects that will commence this fiscal year to improve water supply to St Andrew West Rural.

The other will see $750 million being invested in the Essex Hall Water Supply Improvement Project to improve storage, processing, pumping, and distribution capacity.

Beneficiary communities include Essex Hall, Salisbury Plain, Unity, Border, Lawrence Tavern and its environs, Burn Shop District, Content, and Cavaliers.

“It is going to significantly change the quality of life of [persons] in and around the Essex Hall-Lawrence Tavern area,” Samuda said.

He indicated that capital projects totalling $7 billion are programmed during fiscal year 2023/24 to upgrade Jamaica's water infrastructure, representing some of the most significant investments made in the sector.