Co-ordinator Urges all Jamaicans to get Involved in Clean-Up Day

Co-ordinator of the National Clean-Up Day Project, Michael Ammar, is appealing to all Jamaicans to get involved, and particularly the business community.
He is one of two Co-ordinators spearheading the planning for the National Clean-Up Day Project on September 29 and 30. The other Co-ordinator is Kingsley Thomas.
The national clean-up project was announced by Prime Minister Bruce Golding at his inauguration on September 11, and is part of the recovery response, following the passage of Hurricane Dean on August 19.
Speaking with JIS News, Mr. Ammar urged the business community to “join hands to solve the problem that is facing the country.”
Mr. Ammar said that if the project is to succeed, there must be a collaborative effort between corporate Jamaica and the average Jamaican.
“If we all get involved, first of all, in identifying the things that need to be done, and then in getting little groups of citizens together to actually tackle these projects, I think over the weekend we will be able to significantly clean up the country and basically get us back to a better than pre-Dean state of cleanliness,” he reasoned.
The Co-ordinator explained that the primary goal of the project is to address the areas of the country that have not been cleaned since Hurricane Dean. “I want to make it very clear that what we are going to be targeting is Hurricane Dean debris in particular, and the backlog of garbage that has been thrown on the roads,” he stressed.
Mr. Ammar is encouraging citizens to also adopt a project in their area. “There are a lot of people who have asked us to get involved in some projects within their communities.we are encouraging the average citizen to adopt a project in their area. If they give us the information beforehand, then we will be able to get trucks there to remove the debris,” he noted.
He advised that there are no plans to rebuild walls that were destroyed or for landscaping, and emphasized that it is all about cleaning up.
“What we are trying to do is clean the roadways and make the place look fresh and clean again and give people the impression that we are in a state of recovery, so that people can then take it upon themselves to do the little things that they need to do to their particular part of the country,” he outlined.
In the meantime, Mr. Ammar, in his capacity as the Past President of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, said the Chamber “has answered the call for a united effort to clean-up the country after Hurricane Dean [by pledging], as an organization, to work along with the government to try and get all our member companies involved in the clean-up.”
He explained that while it is not possible to get all the member companies involved, he would certainly try to do so. “We will be trying to get resources from these companies. So far we have been getting good calls; quite a few big companies have called in with pledges for trucks and equipment,” he added.