By Claudia Gardner, Gleaner WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE JAMAICA Public Service Company (JPSCo) was taken to task at last week's monthly meeting of the Hanover Parish Council for reportedly issuing the Council with incorrect billing in regards to blown and malfunctioning street lights across the parish.
While the JPSCo. is claiming that it had repaired over 95 per cent of the defective street lights in the parish, the Parish Council is dismissing that claim, contending that the utility company had incorrectly stated the volume of work done.
In disputing the figures quoted by the JPSCo, Councillor Sheridan Samuels, of the Cauldwell division, told fellow councillors that despite making requests two months ago for a number of lights to be repaired in his division, the lights remained out-of-order. Yet, he said, the JPSCo. had submitted a report to the Council claiming that those lights had been repaired.
"We cannot rely on JPSCo. to do anything for us!" Councillor Samuels declared angrily. "They have been tricking us about the state of the lights! They are saying that street lights are working where they are not working!"
STRONG SUPPORT
Councillor Samuels' position was strongly supported by Deputy Mayor Vasca Brown and a number of other councillors, including former Mayor of Lucea, Councillor Lloyd Hill, who all claimed to have experienced similar problems in their divisions.
Some councillors claimed that on a one-mile stretch of roadway in some areas, up to 20 lights were not working. The councillors went on to chide the Ministry of Local Government which, they said, was paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars to the JPSCo for substandard service.
According to them, despite providing the Ministry with evidence of defective street lights across the parish and recommending that 10 per cent of the sum usually paid to the JPSCo be withheld, the Ministry had not complied and continued to 'dish out' payments to the utility company.
The councillors subsequently took a decision to support a motion moved by Councillor Samuels, who renewed his calls, made several months ago, for the Council to employ two persons to conduct an ongoing audit of the street lights across the parish in order to stem what he called the "wastage of taxpayers' money."
A total of 1,297 JPSCo. street lights are located in the 177-square mile parish. Of this figure, 1,216 are located in Western Hanover, with just 681 in Eastern Hanover. According to Ministry of Local Government statistics, nine million of the over $50 million in property taxes collected from the parish last year will be paid over to JPSCo. for the street light service.
