5,000 HURRICANE STRAPS FOR ROCKY POINT RESIDENTS
KINGSTON, (JIS):
Five thousand hurricane straps are to be provided for residents of Rocky Point in Clarendon by the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, to aid in the rebuilding of houses following the passage of Hurricane Beryl.
Portfolio Minister, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, said that the materials will be provided through the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and the Clarendon Municipal Corporation, based on the request of former Mayor, Councillor Winston Maragh.
The Minister was speaking at a handover ceremony for three units under the Indigent Housing Programme, in Clarendon North Central, on Tuesday (August 20).
“Rocky Point was severely affected; almost every roof down there went and we launched a programme with the ODPEM where we are providing hurricane straps. We did a significant amount of that in St. Elizabeth for persons who are in the process of putting on their roofs,” Mr. McKenzie added.
Pointing out that “the hurricane straps work”, the Minister said that many residents of Rocky Point have started the process of building back their homes and are putting on the roofs.
In the meantime, Mr. McKenzie said that the bills being received from the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) following Hurricane Beryl, particularly as it pertains to street lights, which are the responsibility of the Ministry, are being monitored.
“I have advised the Ministry and the Municipal Corporations that we must pay attention to the bills that the JPS will be sending for street lights, because we can’t be paying the same bill and more when several communities are without street lights. This is something that we are going to be monitoring because we are not going to pay for a service that is not there,” he said.
Additionally, he said that he met with Chief Executive Officers of the Municipal Corporations and Mayors on Monday (August 19), where discussions centred around ensuring that all street lights that were affected by the Hurricane are restored.
He further noted that the Youth Summer Employment Programme (YSEP) workers are being utilised to do assessments of poles in the communities that were hardest hit by Beryl.
“We are going to be engaging the JPS in this discussion,” the Minister said.
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CONTACT: MICKELLA ANDERSON-GORDON
