ALSTON Stewart has been appointed executive chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Authority, the new company created last year by the government to modernise Jamaica’s handling of garbage.

Stewart informed the authority’s staff of his new appointment yesterday, an Observer source said, and told them that his tenure was limited to the end of March.

Stewart could not be contacted for comment yesterday, but his job title indicates that he will have daily hands-on management of the authority’s operations.

At yesterday’s meeting, our source said, Stewart also announced the appointment of Phadra Saunders as his special assistant. Saunders was previously human resources manager at Metropolitan Parks and Markets where Stewart was chairman.

Stewart is a major shareholder in KLAS-FM radio and is also known to have strong ties to the ruling People’s National Party. In fact, he played a leading role in the party’s election campaign in 1997.

The formation of the National Solid Waste Management Authority resulted in the phasing out of the several parks and markets companies which had responsibility for waste disposal in different sections of the island.

Under the system to be run by the authority, two transfer stations will be operated, one each at Negril and May Pen, where waste will be held for 24 hours, compacted then transferred to landfills at the Riverton City dump in Kingston or a similar site in Western Jamaica.