WELCOME HALL, St James – The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) Company Ltd says a lack of concrete information is hobbling its efforts to investigate a report that contractors working for the company stole street lights from Welcome Hall in St James.

The councillor who represents the division Gregory Wint (Jamaica Labour Party) made the report to the utility provider almost a month ago and he is urging the company to act.

“The JPS contractors [removed the lights], that’s what the residents are saying. Because two days after, the same men who took them off come back to fix a light wire that a tree had broken and the citizens [chased] them and they left,” Wint told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.

“They have pictures with the truck and the licence plate and everything,” he added.

He said a promised investigation by the JPS is little comfort as the community is still in darkness.

“JPS tell me that the lights are equipped with GPS so nobody can’t steal them again, so they need to tell us where the lights are,” Wint demanded.

He wants the accused contractors punished.

“They must pay whatever penalty; JPS must deal with it,” he said.

In response to queries from the Observer, JPS Director of Corporate Communications Winsome Callum confirmed the company had received reports and explained why no action had been taken against the contractors.

“JPS has been asking members of the public to provide us with information when they see the illegal removal of street lights, so that the unscrupulous persons can be apprehended and held accountable. However, the reports so far have not provided enough detail to assist us or the police in recovering the lights,” she stated.

However, she said JPS is making every effort to replace the missing street lights as quickly as possible.

That cannot be soon enough for Wint, who said the missing lights are endangering residents in several areas across his division.

“In Mount Horeb, eight weeks ago, they stole eight lights off light posts in one road, the new lights. The people are in darkness to go home right now,” he complained.

“In the area where they stole the lights, week before last Friday night, them hold up a man and rob him right there. In Roehampton where there have been a number of killings, you find that a number of the lights have been removed from that area as well,” he added.

He also complained that the JPS has been slow to respond to other concerns such as downed infrastructure.

“We even have trees break down on the light wire right now. From the 12th of October, I sent the picture to the representative who supposed to deal with it and all now the tree is on the wire, same place,” said Wint.

“Whenever there is moisture, like in the early morning or when it rains, you can hear the electricity humming through the tree,” he said, as he warned of imminent danger.

He also pointed to low-hanging wires that, he said, have been reported since July last year but continue to pose a hazard.

The councillor also said there were frequent and prolonged power cuts in the communities, putting lives and livelihoods at risk.

“A young lady in Cottage Road with a shop had to throw away her ice cream and everything and this happened about two weeks ago, same area, for four days. In Mount Horeb, we have power outage for six days, nobody paid us any mind,” Wint stated.

He is calling on JPS to rectify these challenges which, he said, are having a significant impact on the lives of residents.

Callum said the company will be working to improve its response to reported outages.