NWC making it difficult to invest in Jamaica

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I am a Jamaican living abroad but do business in Jamaica. I listen to the radio station in Jamaica and time and time again I hear that we abroad should come back and invest in Jamaica, but we, a small pig farm company, are finding it hard to survive and receive proper service from one of the biggest corporations there – National Water Commission (NWC).

We went by the book and properly installed a meter for our company, with no help from NWC. We have not received a water bill since July 2020, but every month we receive a text to our email that states that there is an amount owing but no bill to show our consumption. And just when we think that the amount is going down, it doubles.

If we had a bill to see our consumption pattern and the amount of water we are using, we could find ways of modifying our monthly usage.

We have repeatedly asked for bills, which we last got in June 2020, but after numerous requests and emails back and forth with NWC, we still can’t get monthly bills. They have only told us that a technician goes by to read the meter, but we have asked how is that possible when the meter is located in a place where they do not have access. Should we take their word that this is true?

We have even asked for the technician to contact the number on file so that someone could be present when they arrive, but nothing has come of that.

Now I ask: how are we to invest in Jamaica, our homeland, when Jamaica is making it so hard to do so? And the reason I say Jamaica and not NWC is because NWC represents Jamaica.

Jamaica needs farmers and we are trying our best to build a company so that we can give people jobs – we currently have one employee. I love Jamaica, that’s where I am from. I have always been a person who loves to give back to my country.

DERICK BRYAN