Dr Chang joins effort to get fire substation in Bethel Town

WESTERN BUREAU:

National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang has announced that his ministry will be taking the requisite steps to end a stand-off between the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC) and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development over plans to establish a fire station (substation) at the Bethel Town Police Station.

In a letter addressed to Savanna-la-Mar Mayor Bertel Moore, who is also the chairman of the WMC, Chang indicated his intention to arrive at a solution that will help to save lives and property by having the substation established. The letter was read into the records of the corporation’s last monthly meeting.

“I have noted the corporation’s concern for the establishment of the facility (a fire substation) and will be discussing the matter with the minister of local government and rural development to see if any assistance can be given,” the letter reads.

Danree Delancy, deputy mayor of Savanna-la-Mar and councillor for the Bethel Town division, in responding to Chang’s letter, told The Gleaner that the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation’s pleas for a fire station to be established in the Bethel Town area has been long-standing, and includes an agreement that was reportedly reached by way of a memorandum of understanding between Noel Arscot, former minister of local government and community development, and Peter Bunting, former minister of national security.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction. It’s an encouraging response,” Delancy told The Gleaner in an interview on Monday. “That indicates to me that he is serious about the project and wants to see it through.

“There was even a memorandum signed between both ministries to facilitate the establishment of the fire substation in Bethel Town, but no one seems to be able to find a copy of that now,” added Delancy.

HAPPY ABOUT PLANS

While the final plans are yet to roll off the drawing board, Delancy was full of praise for Chang’s intervention, saying that after years of pleading for the establishment of the fire station, he is finally feeling that something positive is about to happen.

“I am now hoping that his colleague minister [Desmond McKenzie] from the local government and rural development ministry will be as interested and enthusiastic so that pretty soon, we can see the project coming to fruition,” stated Delancy.

In a Gleaner story last June, it was reported that Delancy urged his colleague councillor at the WMC to join him in putting pressure on the Ministry of Local Government to get the substation in question established in the Bethel Town community as early as possible. At the time, he said he was not receiving adequate support from the WMC.

“We need a fire substation in Bethel Town. I don’t think I am getting enough support from the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation in that regard,” Delancy said at the time. “I am asking for support from the WMC to put more pressure on the central government so that this much-needed facility can come into being. We cannot delay anymore, delay is danger, Rome is burning, Your Worship. Bethel Town and its environs are burning.”