KINGSTON, Jamaica – President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) William Mahfood is calling on the Government to establish an oversight committee to monitor the operations of the National Solid Waste Management Agency (NSWMA), following reports of J$272 million being lost to the Riverton City blaze.

Mahfood was speaking at a joint press conference with various Civil Society Groups, the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) and the Jamaica Manufacturers Association (JMA) earlier today, which comes on the heels of the Riverton City fire that started last Wednesday and is still smouldering.

According to the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI), the fire will cost the economy over J$272 million.

Also present at the function, president of the JMA, Brian Pengelley, stated that roughly 40 businesses had to shutter their operations on Friday following the blaze.

“It is more than just the cost, the principle that we are saying is that we have had the opportunity as a country to fix this before and here we are again. If we look back at the results of the other fires we went through, we’ll see that almost nothing has been done,” Pengelley stated.

The organisations stated that like the rest of the public, they too have lost confidence in the willingness and commitment of the present leadership of the NSWMA and the Ministry of Local Government to effectively manage the process going forward.

As such, the group is calling for proper investigations of the numerous breaches and causes of fire, full accountability based on the findings of investigations and for those responsible for the management of the dump, and that the National Environment and Planning Agency to immediately take enforcement action, including court actions, for the breaches to its environmental permit issued to NSWMA, along with the implementation of an oversight team.

Karena Bennett