Street light installation delay in Westmoreland unacceptable, says councillor

WESTERN BUREAU:

The Westmoreland Municipal Corporation has rejected a decision by the Ministry of Local Government to embrace the Jamaica Public Service’s (JPS) plan to delay the installation of LED street lights in that parish.

Responding to a letter from Marsha Henry-Martin, permanent secretary in the local government ministry, Ian Myles, councillor for the Little London division, said the citizens of the parish deserve better from the JPS, especially as it relates to safely travelling in the parish at night.

“I am not accepting that. Little London is dark; and when I drive into Negril, the tourist resort, it is dark because of JPS’ inability to do what they need to do,” said Myles. “What it (the local government ministry’s stance) is doing is truly putting a smooth brush on JPS’ inability to ensure that the street light repair programme takes place.”

According to the letter, the JPS is facing challenges in sourcing critical software and parts to effectively handle the repairs of street lights under the Smart LED street light conservation project.

“The impact of material availability has hindered the progress in the Smart LED street light conservation project, and has reduced the availability for smart LED street lights installation at this time,” the letter stated.

“Consequently, the following should be noted, under the street light conversion project, the balance of 20, 516 LED lights will be installed in 2021. However, only 10,000 LED street lights will be installed with smart controllers in 2021 and the balance of smart controllers will be installed by March 2022, unless advised otherwise,” the letter added.

The letter also stated that there would be a reduction in the number of street light installations, as only critical installation of new street lights will be considered up to September 2021.

VULNERABLE TO CRIMINALS

However, Myles feels the decision by JPS, which the local government ministry has embraced, has left citizens vulnerable to criminals.

“Remember those lamps in the major thoroughfare would have been changed to smart LED, so if the parts are not here, what is going to happen when they want to be repaired?” asked Myles. “So the citizens will continue to suffer from crime and violence taking place across this country and continue to live in fear for maybe another two years, because JPS is relinquishing their responsibility to the citizens of this country.”

Danree Delancy, the deputy mayor of Savanna-la-Mar, who supported the stance taken by Myles, used the opportunity to call on the ministry to ensure that they are paying out money to the JPS for the timely and satisfactory delivery of street lights.

“What adjustments are being made to the street light bill? Is it that the ministry is continuing to pay as per usual, or the ministry will seek to have a dialogue with JPS and to say, based on your situation of not being able to repair defective street lamps until after March 2022, we’re going to be reducing payment,” asked Delancy.

“It cannot be that we continue to pay JPS for the [poor] services that they are providing. It is time that the ministry look into the matter and adjust payments accordingly. If you collect money under the guise of performing or providing a service or providing goods without doing so, then it is tantamount to scamming,” added Delancy.