By Trudy Simpson, Staff ReporterTHE KINGSTON and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) is calling on the Government to probe the Jamaica Public Service Company's (JPSCo) repair and maintenance of street lights in the Corporate Area.
Kingston's Mayor Desmond McKenzie wants the ministries of Finance and Planning, Local Government and Mining and Energy to intervene and investigate the issue following recent surveys which show the number of non-functioning street lights in the Corporate Area is greater than first reported.
The KSAC is also seeking a two-year rebate from the electricity company and is threatening to increase the $2 million sum it promised to withdraw monthly from electricity bills to prevent paying for malfunctioning street lights."
The $2 million represents nearly 10 per cent of the $18 million the KSAC spends per month for electricity. Mr. McKenzie said the KSAC will be making calculations based on new information and that percentage will be subtracted from monthly bills now being paid.
"We are convinced that the JPSCo needs to speak to this issue and not only in terms of repairing the street lights. It needs to say what it intends (to do) in terms of compensating the taxpayers," Mayor McKenzie said during yesterday's press briefing at 24 Church Street, downtown Kingston.
He said a survey carried out in September along Six Miles, Spanish Town Road, Marcus Garvey Drive, Harbour and Port Royal streets showed only 235 of the 595 street lights working. It has also surveyed areas in the Liguanea Plain in St. Andrew.
ESTIMATE NOW AT 3,000
Last month, the KSAC estimated 2,500, or just over 10 per cent of the 23,000 street lights in Kingston and St. Andrew, were not working. The estimate now puts the number at 3,000, he said.
The KSAC and the electricity utility company have been at loggerheads over having to pay electricity bills for what the KSAC said are malfunctioning street lights. Last month, following a meeting between both sides, the light and power company promised to repair all non-functioning street lights within the next four to six weeks. But the Mayor said yesterday while there has been some improvement in repairs over the last six weeks, the company has missed its deadline and needs to "come to grips with the problem."
