KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Opposition People’s National Party says Friday night’s island-wide power outage has once again highlighted that the treatment plants operated by the National Water Commission (NWC) remain “dangerously dependent” on the Jamaica Public Service grid, leaving thousands of citizens across the country without access to water.

“Across this country, thousands of Jamaicans are without water because this Government has refused to make the shift to solar technology,” said the party’s spokesman on water, Ian Hayles in a statement.

“We witnessed the same devastation in Western Jamaica during Hurricane Melissa, and yet the Minister stood before this nation during the budget presentation and offered absolutely nothing new. It is the same old, same old, nearly one hundred per cent dependency on the power grid, and ordinary Jamaicans are paying the price,” Hayles added.

He charged that, “The failure to switch is not merely an oversight but a governance crisis that threatens public health, tourism, and the daily lives of citizens in heavily populated communities nationwide”.

He is urging the Government to immediately implement a policy position that moves critical NWC infrastructure onto solar and advanced renewable technology, warning that, “We cannot continue to hold this nation hostage to a single point of failure,” he said.

The Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Western is calling for generators to be deployed to critical areas, including the tourism corridors as well as the largest population centres and residential communities. “The people of Jamaica deserve better, and this Opposition will not rest until they get it,” he said.

Hayles is also demanding that the Government tables a comprehensive energy resilience plan for the water sector within the current parliamentary session.