NSWMA boss commits to removing derelict vehicles

WESTERN BUREAU:

Audley Gordon, executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), says the derelict vehicles being complained about within the Chester Castle Division of the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) will be removed by the end of April.

The commitment has come about following claims from Wynter McIntosh, councillor for Chester Castle, that despite several reports to and subsequent promises from senior personnel attached to the NSWMA western affiliate operations, WPM Waste Management Limited, no action has been forthcoming from that establishment towards solving the problem.

McIntosh, along with chairman of the HMC, Sheridan Samuels, has therefore described the WPM as “inefficient and dismissive of the concerns of the residents of Hanover”.

Gordon in an interview with The Gleaner, while making mention of the availability of equipment to carry out the required task of removing the abandoned vehicles, and blaming the issue on lack of proper communication, gave a commitment that they (the abandoned derelict vehicles), will all be removed before the end of the month.

“We (with the NSWMA) are well aware of the challenges with derelict vehicles across the island, that is the reason why we lobbied and got four crane trucks to assist the process,” he said, adding that one such crane truck is assigned to the WPM for working in the four parishes that that agency covers, which are Hanover, Westmoreland, St James and Trelawny.

While arguing that logistically it is challenging for the WPM to reach every area, and satisfy all the request, at the pace at which persons reporting the need for the specialised unit would like, he said that the unit has to be rostered so as not to appear that one area is getting more attention that others.

“So we are aware of the Chester Castle situation, and I have given directives that the next set of operations (with the crane truck) be done in that area,” he emphasised, adding that it is not because of any reluctance on the part of the WPM why the operations have not been done to date.

PROPER COMMUNICATION

“I am not so sure what level of communication would have taken place between the councillors and my team at the WPM, as in such a situation I think that proper communication would have help (in satisfying some of the concerns),” he argued.

“It is just about the proper management of resources, and the scheduling of the equipment, it is not that we do not know that you have a problem, and it is not that we do not care, but when you have one crane truck to service four parishes there are some logistical challenges that we have to navigate,” he said.

He added that it was his view that if proper communication had taken place with respect to the limitations with equipment, and the logistical challenges, all involved would better appreciate the situation.

Gordon said that, by law, the abandoned vehicles have to be ticketed and time allowed to elapse for the expiration of the dates outlined on the tickets served, before the vehicles can be removed.

Checks made with the HMC have revealed that public nuisance tickets have already been placed on the vehicles in question, and the time given expired sometime ago.

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