Cuban bulbs available at 5 locations in North West St. Andrew this weekend

KINGSTON – Five centres will be used this weekend for the distribution of compact fluorescent bulbs, under the final phase of the Cuba-Jamaica Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) Project, commonly called the Cuban light bulb distribution programme.

The re-start of the programme will see to the final distribution of some 160,000 CFL’s, and is part of a two-part initiative from the government.

Firstly, the distribution enhances the government’s thrust toward reducing the national energy bill through energy efficiency, and secondly, to conclude the original Cuban light bulb distribution project, which has allowed the donation of over 2.84 million CFL’s islandwide.

This weekend, the distribution process will start at 10:00 a.m. and continue to 4:00 p.m., on Saturday (March 26) from the following locations.

Hughenden Community Centre

Meadowbrook Community Centre

PembrokeHall High School

Maverly Primary and Junior high school

On Sunday, March 27, the distribution process will continue at the Patrick Gardens Community Centre, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Residents will turn in incandescent bulbs and receive one free energy saving CFL for each.

At a meeting at the Ministry of Energy and Mining on March 23, Carlos Collado Martinez, a member of the two-man delegation from the Ministry of Basic Industry in Cuba who travelled to Jamaica for the conclusion of the programme, told JIS News that their sole purpose was to see to the conclusion of the project and its new distribution method.

“We are here to participate in the restart of the programme for the distribution of the fluorescent lamps.  We will be at all the locations and will be here till the last fluorescent lamp is handed out,” he said.  

Principal Director (Policy Planning and Development division) in the Ministry of Energy and Mining, Oral Rainford, reinforced the new distribution concept, noting that it was a more cost-effective way to achieving the same end result.

“We invite you (residents) to come to a central location with your bulbs, we take the incandescent that you bring and we give you new compact fluorescent bulbs. That distribution process is far faster and far cheaper,” he said.

By O. RODGER HUTCHINSON, JIS PR Officer