JUTC up and running

Reginald Allen, corporate communications manager at the Jamaica Urban Transit Corporation (JUTC), says operations have been back to normal along all routes as of last Saturday.

"We have a few challenges on some of the hills, such as the routes above Temple Hall and Lawrence Tavern, but we have long had those challenges. Many of them were prior to the hurricane," Allen told The Gleaner yesterday.

80 per cent of NWC supply restored

Following the passage of Hurricane Sandy, the National Water Commission (NWC) has stated its operations were yesterday up to 80 per cent as it was able to restore several water supply systems over the weekend.

All systems in Clarendon, Hanover, St Elizabeth, St James and Manchester that were disrupted by Sandy have now been restored to full operation.

The NWC also noted that several other systems were expected to be put back into operation later yesterday, especially as public power supply is expected to be restored to more areas in which critical water supply facilities are located.

Most customers have call access - Digicel

It's been almost a week since the passage of Hurricane Sandy, and Digicel has stated that its call completion rate currently stands at 99.6 per cent despite the various challenges faced, which means that the vast majority of its customers are able to make and complete calls without an issue.

"Despite accessibility challenges with road blockages and power outages in various areas, we conducted our assessment of damage and quality of coverage immediately after the storm and will be undertaking remedial activities between today and tomorrow where necessary," said Shelly-Ann Harris, senior communications manager at Digicel.

"There are one or two remote areas in the east (St Thomas) where we still have significant accessibility challenges. However, we are determined to have service resolved in those areas very quickly."

LIME spends $30m for restoration

Telecommunications firm LIME has announced that its preliminary figures have indicated that it has spent $30 million between last Wednesday and Monday of this week towards its Hurricane Sandy restoration programme.

The company also noted that this restoration programme is near completion.

Landslides and fallen trees that caused heavy infrastructure damage to the JPS grid in the east of the island severely disrupted LIME service to the parishes of Portland, St Thomas, St Mary and parts of rural St Andrew.

LIME said service restoration in St Mary and rural St Andrew was moving at a faster pace with more sites coming back online as soon as the JPS restores power to where they are located.

PM to address nation

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller is expected to tell the country today what areas will be given priority attention in the Hurricane Sandy recovery process.

Yesterday the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management and other government agencies presented the Cabinet with preliminary estimates of the damage caused by the Category One hurricane.

Government sources revealed last night that Cabinet poured over the numbers and discussed some areas that could be given priority during a marathon meeting yesterday, but said Simpson Miller will make an announcement today.