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Rep. Takamine, Lorraine Shin, Quirino Antonio, Sen. Lorraine Inouye, Richard Ha and Roy Oka
in front of the water project sign
Many residents from Andrade Camp and the surrounding communities gathered on June 10 for a happy celebration for their water system project. Andrade Camp, a small community of about 20 plantation houses, has worked with federal, state and county leaders to modernize the area’s plantation-era water system. The work of improving the system will now proceed and on completion, maintenance of the system will be assumed by the Department of Water Supply.
Dignitaries,agency representatives and residents participate in the ground-breaking ceremony. | Most of the residents are former sugar plantation employees who are in their late 70s and 80s and should be applauded for working together and persevering. They are an excellent example of what can be done when you have caring hard-working people who share a common goal. Under the guidance of State Representative Dwight Takamine, $485,000 of funding was arranged through the USDA-Rural Utilities Services Loan/Grant Program making it possible for the assessment costs for these necessary improvements to be amortized over a period that makes it manageable for these residents of modest means and fixed pension income.
Richard Ha, owner of Hamakua Springs Country Farms and an advocate supporting these efforts, shared his assessment of this five year project. “Dwight Takamine was the driving force behind this project. There were several times that it looked like the project had died, but he would not give up. I’ll bet he called more than 15 meetings in order to keep the process moving. He is very good at getting the best out of people. He was able to keep everyone on the same page and working together. He insists on sharing the credit with everyone, but all of us who were involved from the start know that it was Dwight who made it happen.”
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