Clean-Up Exercise Hailed as a Success in Western Jamaica

The post-Hurricane Dean clean-up campaign, which took place on September 29 and 30, is being hailed a success by organizers in western Jamaica.
Truckloads of debris were removed from several communities in the parishes of Trelawny, St. James, Westmoreland and Hanover over the two days, leaving those areas in a more healthy and attractive condition.
The clean-up exercise, which was announced by Prime Minister, Bruce Golding as part of the recovery response following Hurricane Dean, involved volunteer labour and equipment from both the private and public sectors, which played an important role in the exercise.
“Considering the fact that we did not have much (debris), because we had actually done some two weeks of clean up already, I would say that we have actually put a major dent in the clearing of the debris in this region,” said National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) Regional Manager for Montego Bay, Milverton Munroe.
Acting Parish Manager with the Social Development Commission (SDC) in Hanover, Ronald Webster, had high praise for the campaign, and called for sustainability to maintain the new look of the communities.
“I would consider it a success all things being taken into consideration, with the fact that Hanover did not have any major damage caused by Hurricane Dean. The whole matter of sustainability and going forward, with other communities coming on board and doing general cleaning up, which is what will be spurred as a result of this national clean-up, we should see some better looking communities as the weeks go by, and we hope that we can keep the momentum going,” he stated.
The high level of involvement of residents in the exercise spoke volumes of their appreciation of the effort, as men, women and children could be seen participating in whatever way they could, to make their communities cleaner.
Communities cleaned over the two day period throughout western Jamaica included: Gloucester Avenue, Leader’s Avenue, Barracks Road, Sangster International Airport round-about, Murray Hill, Latium, Gilsborough and Somerton in St. James; Savanna-la-mar, Petersfield, Whitehouse, Bluefields and Cave in Westmoreland; while in Hanover, Pell River, Lucea, Green Island and the Sandy Bay to Montpellier roadway got much needed attention.