NEGRIL, Westmoreland — The Negril Chamber of Commerce is viewing the Tourism Product Development Company’s latest move to beautify the parish with scepticism, claiming that the project will die a natural death because of a lack of maintenance and the proliferation of stray animals on the streets of the resort town.

They maintain that with major cuts to its budget, the cash-strapped TPDCo does not have the money to fund the maintenance aspect of the project and they will be expected to fill the gap.

But at this week’s monthly meeting of the chamber, that idea did not go down well with its members.

According to chamber director, Daniel Grizzle, the beautification project will suffer the same fate as previous failed attempts over the years.

“Palm trees and flower beds were planted in a reserved area, six feet off the road but there was not an effective programme for maintenance and the programme died,” said Ray Arthurs, who operates Arthur’s Golden Sunset, of the last attempt.

Chamber director Cliff Reynolds also predicted that the proliferation of stray animals on the streets would also have a negative impact on the project.

“It is a total waste of time. The cows are waiting to have a feast as soon as the flower-beds are planted,” he said.

Attempts have been made in the past to impound the strays, but with a soft beef market, there appears to be a never-ending supply of cows.

The chamber also pointed to the garbage-strewn roadways of the resort as another drawback to the ongoing beautification project. To correct this problem, the chamber suggested that garbage bins be placed at the entrance of each property along the Norman Manley hotel strip.