The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) has delivered on its promise to restore electricity to the Roaring River National Water Commission (NWC) Pump, which serves Westmoreland residents.

According to the JPS, the energisation of the lines leading to the pump was completed on Wednesday night, with tests confirming that supply was provided.

The company said these lines are also now supplying power to JPS customers in sections of Westmoreland, including Petersfield, Waterworks, and Shrewsbury Falls.

The JPS pointed out that the restoration of the pump required the rebuilding of more than 10 miles of electricity lines from the power source at the JPS Paradise substation to NWC’s Roaring River pump and more than 100 linesmen on the job to push to completion.

On Tuesday the JPS announced that it was undertaking extensive rebuilding works to restore electricity to the Roaring River National Pump, which supplies water to approximately 50,000 Westmoreland residents, by this week.

At that time the company said the energisation of the lines leading to the pump would also restore power to more than 1,700 customers across sections of Westmoreland.

“We understand the inconvenience and potential health challenges caused by the absence of water. While relatively few JPS customers will be restored despite the extensive work being done here, the greater benefit lies in getting water to the residents. This is consistent with our restoration strategy of giving priority to critical services such as water, hospitals and telecommunication,” said Hugh Grant, JPS president and CEO.

At that time Grant said the company was giving top priority to the restoration of power to the Roaring River Pump because of the significance of this facility to Westmoreland.

“Several roadways were washed away, and others were left waterlogged due to flooding from Category 5 Hurricane Melissa. Because of the catastrophic damage, we have to redesign routes, relocate infrastructure and rebuild entire sections of line for a more resilient network. Over 300 electricity poles are being replanted along the corridor. To complete the rebuilding, more than 100 line workers have been deployed, including overseas and local contractors working alongside JPS teams,” Grant shared.

Kenyatta Campbell, operations area manager at JPS, underscored the challenges being faced by the restoration crews.

“This is some of the most difficult work our teams have had to undertake during the restoration process. We are relocating poles from areas that have now become swamps to more solid ground. This has taken us into extremely challenging terrain, with crews facing rocky soil conditions in newly identified locations where poles have to be erected. This requires specialised equipment tailored for rock digging,” Campbell said.

He added that once completed, the work would restore electricity to Petersfield, Shrewsbury, Carawina, Waterworks, Dean’s Valley, Petersfield High School, and surrounding sections of the Petersfield community, while also enabling the re-energisation of the Roaring River NWC Pump.

According to JPS, this phase of work is part of the “last mile” of restoration and is among the most challenging, as it requires major rebuilding while restoring electricity to a smaller number of customers, compared to earlier stages.

Minister of Energy Daryl Vaz on Tuesday told Parliament that JPS activated a best-in-class restoration model to systematically restore electricity nationwide.

He said as a result, 491,000 of the 542,000 customers who lost power have now had their elctricity restored.

GRANT…the JPS gave top priority to the restoration of power to the Roaring River Pump because of the significance of this facility to Westmoreland Joseph Wellington