Hanover Councillors Urged to Seek Help from MPs for Rep

There has been a slow down in the implementation of Rural Electrification Programme (REP) projects in Hanover.
This has been primarily attributed to the lack of funds and, as a result, Councillors in the Hanover Parish Council have been advised to seek assistance from their Members of Parliament, through their Community Development Fund (CDF) allocation, to carry on the projects.
The advice was given by Design Engineer with the REP, Mr. Audley Jerry, as he addressed the Monthly meeting of the Council, at Council Chamber, Lucea, on Thursday (March 11).
Making mention of the fact that there are approximately 85 projects in the database of the REP to be implemented in Hanover, Mr. Jerry said that one project was completed within the financial year, while there are three more scheduled to come on stream before the end of 2009/10. The completed project is in the Montpelier to Barnes Lane area of eastern Hanover, covering some 1.12 kilometres of road and serving some 14 costomers, while those to come on stream will cover a total of 1.59 kilometres, serving some 92 customers.
“As you know the present economic constraint being experienced by the country is directly affecting our ability to undertake new projects, but a new trend has been emerging where the Members of Parliament for the respective parishes have been allocating funds from their CDF to undertake projects in their constituencies,”, Mr. Jerry explained.
“This is an area that I would advise the Hanover parish to agitate for funding to be allocated for projects,” he suggested.
He also advised the Councillors to revisit the list of projects on the REP database list, and do some prioritisation of projects in case money becomes available. He apologised for the limited work done in the parish under the REP programme within the financial year, blaming it directly on financial constraints.