Gov’t commitment to clear streetlight debt ‘in interest of all parties’ - JPS

President and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) Emanuel DaRosa says the government’s commitment to clear over $9 billion in streetlight bill is “in the interest of all parties”.

“We welcome the payment commitment by the government of Jamaica to the longstanding streetlighting arrears,” DaRosa said in a release issued by the electricity company. “This is in the interest of all parties. This is in the best interest of our customers as well as the residents of this country – addressing the darkness that is in some areas and improving the streetlighting for everyone.”
The government, through Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie, recently announced that it has committed to clearing the arrears by the end of the 2018/19 financial year.
McKenzie made the disclosure last week at a disaster mitigation meeting in Douglas Castle, stating that the outstanding amount, accumulated over several years and inclusive of interest, was over $7 billion.
However, according to the JPS the full amount owed is over $9.8 billion, but has since received payment of over $6.5 billion with another $3.3 billion outstanding.

Now that payment has been made, the JPS said it will expedite work on its streetlighting programme.
“We are now in a position to accelerate the repairs on the streetlighting infrastructure, and start ordering the significant material that’s required for those repairs, as well as addressing some of our own outstanding arrears to some of our suppliers,” DaRosa said. “We look forward to working with the Government of Jamaica, not only to address the lighting conditions in improved lighting for the residents of this country, but also to make sure we can clear all these arrears and ensure that they stay current on a go forward basis.”
The company further stated that it is in the process of ordering a shipment of lighting stock and fixtures for repairs to be carried out.
The last quarter of 2018 will see 6,000 streetlights being repaired, in addition to the over 5,000 lights which were repaired from January to the present time.