THE EDITOR, Sir:

I lived in a town of about 80,000 people for more than four decades. It rained almost every day. It is my guess that more than 90 per cent of service lines - telephone, TV, electric, natural gas and water - are underground, there is even an aircraft fuel line across that town.

I worked on the telephone lines - you better know your location if you have to dig. It also freezes to a depth of up to 12 inches at times during the winter months.

No new development is allowed with 'bird's nest' wiring. Every thing must be planned and approved before a single spade is put into the ground.

I also worked in the rural areas around that town, and I can tell you that if it is at all possible to put cables underground, it must be done or no development will take place. Cross-country, long-distance high-tension lines are excepted, but these terminate in substations anyway, from where they are stepped down to domestic and business supply.

To dismiss the burying of electrical cables as not feasible (as the Jamaica Public Service Company's Winsome Callum has said) could be an attempt to hoodwink the Jamaican public and, I dare say, is not in keeping with Vision 2030.

PHIL FOSTER

croc@cwjamaica.com

St Elizabeth