Dear Editor,
I note with alarm the amount of US$42.5 million to be paid to the Israeli company Miya to reduce the system losses of the National Water Commission (NWC). To do so requires the mapping of the pipe network, the placement of additional meters and valves at critical points in the network, then analysis and co-ordination with the billing department to identify the losses.
In 2008, I was working with the German company SETEC Engineering to implement a GPS-based mapping system for the NWC network, which also linked it with maintenance, the billing system, etc. That pilot programme was completed years ago and the system continued on in the rest of Jamaica. Much of the network would have been mapped by now, the billing and other systems should be by now interlinked so that the NWC should be able to do most of the work this Israeli company is now being employed to do. Are they handing over the databases built up over the years to these guys?
The US$42.5 million could be better used to buy the meters -- not the meters for consumers, there's a programme for that I'm sure -- valves, piping, and other hardware to do the job.
Does the Government think that the NWC engineers are incompetent? I've interacted with them and I find them to be very competent. Given the US$42.5 million and a free hand, I'm sure more value for money would be achieved by the NWC engineers.
Howard Chin, PE
Member, Jamaica Institution of Engineers
hmc14@cwjamaica.com
Does Gov't consider NWC engineers incompetent?
-->
I note with alarm the amount of US$42.5 million to be paid to the Israeli company Miya to reduce the system losses of the National Water Commission (NWC). To do so requires the mapping of the pipe network, the placement of additional meters and valves at critical points in the network, then analysis and co-ordination with the billing department to identify the losses.
In 2008, I was working with the German company SETEC Engineering to implement a GPS-based mapping system for the NWC network, which also linked it with maintenance, the billing system, etc. That pilot programme was completed years ago and the system continued on in the rest of Jamaica. Much of the network would have been mapped by now, the billing and other systems should be by now interlinked so that the NWC should be able to do most of the work this Israeli company is now being employed to do. Are they handing over the databases built up over the years to these guys?
The US$42.5 million could be better used to buy the meters -- not the meters for consumers, there's a programme for that I'm sure -- valves, piping, and other hardware to do the job.
Does the Government think that the NWC engineers are incompetent? I've interacted with them and I find them to be very competent. Given the US$42.5 million and a free hand, I'm sure more value for money would be achieved by the NWC engineers.
Howard Chin, PE
Member, Jamaica Institution of Engineers
hmc14@cwjamaica.com
Does Gov't consider NWC engineers incompetent?
-->