NSWMA Projects Kingston will be back to Normal

Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Christopher Powell, is projecting that if most persons in Kingston participate in the National Clean-up campaign this weekend (September 29 and 30), the capital city should be back to normal by October 7.
Speaking at the weekly JIS ‘Think Tank’, on (Sept. 26), at 58A Half-Way-Tree Road in Kingston, Mr. Powell said that the NSWMA welcomed the project and the opportunity for all Jamaicans to participate, as it would assist the agency in getting back on track in managing the country’s waste, following the passage of Hurricane Dean on August 19.
“Based on how we were going with the resource constraints and what we have been experiencing, it would have taken us, based on projections, about another four weeks to complete the clean-up, especially in the Corporate Area because we underestimated the volume of debris,” he explained.
“We did not know there were so many trees in Kingston,” he quipped, “and I think that has thrown us off somewhat, but we welcome the concentration of the effort in Kingston.”
Commenting on the backlog of residential garbage in some areas, such as Stony Hill, the Acting CEO said that the agency was spearheading efforts to deal with the problem.
“We have reduced (collection) in terms of hurricane debris, to focus the next couple of days on clearing the backlog of residential garbage,” he explained.
“In Mitchell Town and Rocky Point [Clarendon] there is also a challenge in collection. We had a meeting on September 25, when we decided to deploy extra trucks there before Saturday (September 29), in order to clean up that backlog,” Mr. Powell added.
Meanwhile, he advised persons, who had uncollected garbage to contact the NSWMA regional office closest to their area. “If people can call us to tell us beforehand, where they are working, then we will deploy trucks accordingly as we will start from 6:00 in the morning until nightfall [on September 29 and 30]. Hopefully we can have a tremendous impact,” he said.