WESTMORELAND, Jamaica – Businessman Richard Wallace has been returned as president of the 37-year-old Negril Chamber of Commerce.

Wallace was unanimously re-elected to run the affairs of the chamber along with a new team of officers during a recent annual general meeting.

He later told OBSERVER ONLINE that during the new term, the focus will be on matters pertaining to rising crime in the resort town of Negril, as well as infrastructure and the inadequate supply of water in the resort town.

The re-elected president argued that with a shortage of water in sections of Negril, there are concerns about the impact the construction of a new hotel in Green Island, Hanover will have on the already inadequate supply of the commodity in the resort town.

“On the West End, there are hotels that still have to be trucking water. At certain times during the season they have no water in the pipes on the West End. So we are concerned that with this big hotel coming at the head of the stream, it is going to make it worse,” expressed Wallace.

Negril, which shares the parishes of Hanover and Westmoreland, is being served by the Logwood Treatment Plant in the parish.

Additionally, Wallace said the chamber will continue its work on two major environmental projects – the IWEco national sub-project and the wider Negril beach restoration project.

Anthony Lewis