The Editor, Sir:

Once upon a time, Jamaican government officials drove stylish Toyota Crowns and carried out their duties quite safely and comfortably. Then, as the country's infrastructure became worse and worse, instead of trying to fix it, they moved up to gas-guzzling SUVs. Those ordinary citizens who could afford to, followed suit. As you can see, Government leads by example.

Ever-increasing oil bill

Unfortunately, it's the wrong path. Stories circulating of drivers sleeping in SUVs outside Parliament with the A/Cs running for hours on end as they await ministers do nothing to disprove this theory. The nation's ever-increasing oil bill is a direct result of a government policy that embraces excess rather than finding viable solutions. For too many years, they have only been interested in collecting import duties on motor vehicles rather than creating a workable mass transit system. This oil price situation did not happen overnight. Yet, only lip service has been paid to creating an environment wher fuel vehicles are acceptable, not to mention duty concessions for hybrid vehicles. The attempt to introduce ethanol as a gas additive has also fallen flat after being launched with so much fanfare six months ago. Little attention has been placed on introducing or expanding power generation from renewable sources like wind and solar energy. Then they bawl over the billions of U.S. dollars needed to pay for oil importation. Wait until all those PetroCaribe monies being spent on foolishness instead of being invested i energy projects have to be repaid. Maybe they are more confident than I am that we will strike oil soon. Otherwise, we are up the creek without a paddle.

I am, etc.,

MILTON WILLIAMS

miltoncwilliams@yahoo.com

Kingston 10

Via Go-Jamaica