LUCEA, Hanover – Western Parks and Markets (WPM), the regional arm of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), says it is being negatively impacted by a roughly 62 per cent shortfall in the required State-owned garbage trucks needed to adequately serve the four parishes across western Jamaica.

WPM’s Acting Regional Operations Manager Dramain Jones, however believes that the expected arrival of new units in the island by the end of the year will assist in alleviating the nightmare faced in trying to meet the demand for the collection of residential solid waste.

While a minimum of 35 garbage trucks are needed to adequately service the western parishes of Trelawny, St James, Hanover and Westmoreland, the WPM currently has 13 working State-owned trucks in its fleet of about 20.

“It is difficult for us. It creates a challenge for us as well because what it means is that sometimes we can’t fulfil our schedule. But, we are trying our best as possible through coordination to get the waste that is out there,” Jones told the Jamaica Observer West.

The situation is such that the entity has to be running night shifts and using tipper trucks to collect waste from certain residential areas “that haven’t been collected for a while,” according to Jones.

The entity also has to depend on some eight private constructors who are also facing challenges.

“They are also feeling the pinch due to fuel prices and with parts as well… their trucks are some of the trucks that we have come to depend on for the most part but they are going down sometimes as well,” explained the acting regional operations manager.

The shortage of garbage trucks has posed severe challenges in the collection of solid waste particularly in the parish of Hanover, mostly in the western section. However, the entity is promising improvements in collection within the parish due to the replacement of an ailing truck with a newer and bigger one, according to Rosemarie Erskine, the zonal monitor for the parish.

This was disclosed during last week’s general monthly meeting of the Hanover Municipal Corporation.

The Government had signalled its intention to purchase some 100 compactor trucks in the 2020/21 financial year, but that was postponed due to a $90-billion shortfall in Government revenue in 2020 as a result of the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

However, two weeks ago, Minister of Local Government Desmond McKenzie told a Standing Finance Committee that the Government had allocated funds for the purchasing of 50 trucks.

The units, he said, are expected on the island by the end of this year.

While it is not clear how many of those units will be allocated to the western region, Jones is promising that “any amount of trucks received will be equally distributed across the west.”

At Thursday’s meeting, deputy mayor of Lucea Andria Dehaney Grant (People’s National Party, Sandy Bay Division) expressed hope that the “equally distribution of the trucks” will not be another failed promise.

“I am hoping and praying that this is not another promise for us in Hanover because for far too long I think that our parish has been left behind. So, I am hoping that in going forward we will have a better look in terms of our garbage collection,” she argued.