Government’s three-year LED street light installation programme, being implemented by the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), is expected to be completed by the end of the 2020/21 fiscal year, according to Desmond McKenzie.

McKenzie, the local government and community development minister, said approximately 65 per cent of the overall target of 105,000 lights have been installed since the programme’s commencement in the 2017/18 fiscal year.

“The JPS is expected to install 18,000 [additional] new LED street lights between now and December. The remaining [19,133] will be done before the end of this financial year [in March 2021],” McKenzie told the House of Representatives.

The minister provided details during his 2020/21 sectoral debate presentation in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, under the theme ‘Building National Resilience through Continuous Investment in Local Government’.

The minister, however, expressed concern over challenges relating to some aspects of the programme’s implementation, and that he would be seeking clarification with the light and power company’s administration.

“There is an understanding as to how they would proceed, and I have asked the management… to meet with us to [discuss our concerns) and I will advise the House, accordingly,” he said.