KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Desmond McKenzie, says he will be targeting unregulated garages during the ongoing national clean-up campaign.

The minister also said that owners of land being used as illegal dumps will also be targeted.

McKenzie noted that unregulated garages, especially those which use adjacent open lots to dump old cars, car parts and tyres, provide opportunities for mosquitoes to breed.

He said that most of these garages are located in residential areas, and the owners will feel the full force of the law.

“People will have to understand that if they can’t cooperate voluntarily, then we will have to make them cooperate by using whatever means the law provides,” he said.

McKenzie pointed out that such indiscipline has been costly to the Government and people of Jamaica.

“It has cost the Government of Jamaica more than a billion dollars already to eradicate and deal with the challenges posed by mosquitoes.  At the end of the day it is the Government that people will be complaining to, so we are doing something about it,” he said.

The minister said he is quite satisfied with the response of residents in the campaign who have taken out their old refrigerators, stoves, washing machines and other bulky items to be transported to the dumps.