HANOVER, Jamaica — Councillor for the Green Island Division, the People’s National Party’s Marvell Sewell has accused the Jamaica Public Service Company of being tardy in undertaking a comprehensive bushing programme for its power lines.

Sewell told the regular monthly general meeting of the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) on Thursday that 95 per cent of the damage to JPS infrastructure in his division during the passage of Hurricane Beryl, resulted from fallen trees. He argued that this could have been minimised if the company had paid attention to its infrastructure by clearing bushes and trees from lines and poles.

“I am wondering if insurance is on it why they don’t clear the lines so that when a hurricane comes, they make a money. You can’t have your property and don’t secure your property? There has to be a catch so that when your property mashes up, you get 10 times the value of your property. That’s my take because it couldn’t be my property that I am making money from and you treat it like that?” questioned Sewell.

In substantiating his claim, Sewell pointed to a case near the postal agency in Santoy. He questioned why only two broken branches from a tree there were cleaned, leaving other hanging branches over its service lines.

“Right now, Green Island division would have current [electricity] if the lines were debushed” stated the councillor, who further called for a meeting between the utility company and HMC.

Sewell also wants a meeting to be set with the National Water Commission (NWC) in a bid to get a better understanding as to why a recently installed electricity generator at the Logwood Treatment Plant was not working until days after the passage of the hurricane. This, he said, resulted in communities having to wait for a protracted period for the restoration of water, which he claimed, was after JPS was able to restore electricity supply to the plant.

Councillor for the Sandy Bay Division, the People’s National Party’s Andria Dehaney Grant said because JPS was tardy in replacing faulty poles it contributed to the fallen poles in the rural sections of Hanover.

Dehaney Grant also argued that the slow pace of the National Works Agency (NWA) in clearing several rural roads under its watch, resulted in residents clearing roads of fallen trees and other items.

She said the residents did so with the hope of creating a clear passage for JPS crews to come in and restore the electricity supply.

Arguing that not much is known about the JPS restoration efforts, Dehaney Grant who is also deputy manager of Lucea, is calling for the corporation to reach out to the company in a bid to get an update on its restoration efforts

Sandy Bay, Black Gate, Haddington, and High Level Road are among the communities the company said on Thursday that its teams are working on over the next 24 – 48 hours.

The day before, the company listed the communities of Fish River, Cave Valley, March Town, Campbelton, Birches Hill, Winchester, Montpelier, Sandy Bay, and Haddington among areas to receive attention over the next 24 – 48 hours.

The company had also stated that electricity had been restored to 88 per cent or 609,000 of its customers across the island, as of midnight on Tuesday.

— Anthony Lewis