NWC travelling officer paid $1.7m in mileage over 14 months
MILEAGE payments of just under $2 million made to a travelling officer over 14 months are said to be raising concern among some managers at the National Water Commission (NWC), the Jamaica Observer has learnt.
“There is some belief there that the money is being shared,” a source close to the NWC told the Sunday Observer yesterday.
Documents shared with the Sunday Observer show that the travelling officer, who is based in a rural parish, filed his highest claim — $270,000 — in December 2012, topping the $237,840 submitted in July 2012.
His next highest claim was for $178,140 in March 2013 when he reported travelling 3,278 kilometres (approximately 2,036 miles) on the job.
“I can’t see anyone travelling so many kilometres in one parish in a month,” said the Sunday Observer source.
“You would have to be driving all day and night,” the source added with a note of sarcasm.
The total mileage payments made to the officer between January 2012 and May 2013 stood at $1,714, 300.
Between March and August this year, the travelling officer, based on his claim, logged 18,441 kilometres.
An NWC source said that the water agency has a cap of 1,200 km, but will honour claims that are considered reasonably above that, depending on what the officer needs to do, and based on approval by the officer’s supervisor.
