By Vernon Daley, Staff Reporter
Paulwell
PHILLIP PAULWELL, Commerce, Science and Technology Minister, yesterday unveiled a new $20 million programme to reduce illegal electricity connections in the inner city.
Under the programme, the Government will remove illegal connections and regularise the electricity of residents. The residents would then be required to repay the cost of the connections, through their bills, to the Jamaica Public Service Co., the light and power company.
The Urban Inner-city Electricity Programme, as it is called, is part of the Government's attempts to improve conditions in depressed urban areas, the minister told the House of Representatives yesterday.
"When you visit many of these communities you must be immediately concerned about the disaster waiting to happen by the danger of live electric wires across roads, walkways and even in children's play areas," he said in his contribution to the Sectoral Debate.
The programme, which was approved by Cabinet this week, came out of close collaboration among the ministry, the JPSCo., the Ministry of Development, and the Office of Utilities Regulation.
Mr. Paulwell disclosed that the new programme would operate in a similar way to the Rural Electrification Programme (REP) and will be managed by the board of the REP.
He said the Government had achieved a great deal of success in rural electrification in recent years and its goal was to give all rural folk access to electricity within the next three to five years.
Since its inception, the REP has wired more than 53,000 houses and installed some 3,200 miles of electrical distribution lines. All parishes outside of Kingston have benefited from the programme.
"During this financial year, the JPSCo. will be building another 700 miles of distribution lines and wiring approximately 20,000 houses, as part of a programme, now being implemented," the minister said.
