Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
A POWER struggle is brewing between the Association of Local Government Authorities of Jamaica (ALGAJ) and TransJamaican Highway Limited over ownership of street lights on the Highway 2000 toll road and other related roads.
TransJamaican is proposing that ALGAJ accept responsibility for maintaining the street lights along the toll road. However, ALGAJ has vehemently rejected the proposal that would see them coughing up the cash for all the street lights on the toll road which spans from Ferry in St. Catherine to Sandy Bay in Clarendon, as well as the Portmore to Kingston leg currently under construction.
NO ROOM FOR DISCUSSION
An unflinching Milton Brown, mayor of May Pen and president of ALGAJ, yesterday maintained there was no room for discussion. "Absolutely no. It is not up for negotiation either. There is no grey area," Mayor Brown told The Gleaner.
He argued that it would be suicidal for the parish councils to take the additional responsi-bility on their current budgetary allocation.
Mayor Brown revealed that ALGAJ was informed of TransJamaican Highway's proposal through a missive sent by the Ministry of Local Government, Community Development and Sports.
A disgruntled Mayor Brown said the mayors "took umbrage" to a line in the letter that suggested that TransJamaican Highway was doing ALGAJ a favour.
"As a gesture of goodwill, and in order to ensure a safe highway at the time of the opening, we have been carrying the cost, but will not continue to do so for more than a few months," the letter read.
A COST OF THE BUSINESS
After consultation with his colleagues, the ALGAJ president informed the Local Government Ministry that they refused to pay for installation or maintenance of street lights on any toll road.
"We realise that the toll road is a commercial venture and street lights are just a cost of the business," he explained.
Ann-Marie Mittoo, spokesperson for the Ministry of Local Government, said the ministry was merely mediating between the two entities. She added that the ministry forwarded Trans-Jamaican Highway's proposal
to ALGAJ for consideration under the existing street light policy which, among other things, states that the local authorities are responsible for all street lights.
Yesterday, a TransJamaican representative said its managing director, Trevor Jackson, and Dr. Wayne Reid, managing director of the National
Road Operators Construction Company (NROCC), were the persons qualified to speak on the matter. However, both men were reportedly off the island.
