KINGSTON, Jamaica – Several Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have indicated a willingness to assist Jamaica restore electricity to areas badly affected by the passage of Hurricane Beryl earlier this month, Energy Minister Daryl Vaz said Wednesday.
Energy Minister Daryl Vaz speaking at the post Cabinet news conference on Wednesday (CMC Photo)“I had a discussion on Monday morning…with the JPS (Jamaica Public Service) management team where I insisted that the time has come for external assistance base on the suffering of the Jamaican people, based on the gaps that exist in the supply across every parish,” Vaz told the weekly Cabinet post press conference.
He said aside and apart from the harder hit areas “the fact is today would be three weeks since Beryl passed and we still have significant amount of persons without electricity and of course some without light.
Vaz said that the external local contractors from the bauxite industry have been assigned to Hanover and St. Elizabeth and that support has been requested from the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC).
“I can confirm that Belize and Suriname have agreed to send persons and also Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana,” Vaz said, adding that he held discussions on Wednesday with the Foreign Trade and Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith “for which I asked her to please reach out to all of our brother and sister countries to see what assistance can be given in the shortest possible time.
“The time has come for external assistance so whatever that is outstanding can be done in the shortest possible time,” he said.
The Energy Minister said excluding St Elizabeth, up to Sunday, 55,000 customers were without electricity. This was cut to 35,960 by Monday and is expected to further reduce to 27,455 by Friday.
Earlier, Vaz told reporters the JPS has completed its assessment of the damage done and that they had 94 transmissions damaged. He said 2,602 light poles had been damaged, 4. 287 damaged conductors as well as 137 damaged transformers.
In addition, he said JPS had reported 2, 185 other transmission and distribution equipment damaged.
“So the JPS did suffer a significant infrastructure damage with the passing of Beryl, all island. The good news is, or the question that would come after, is can they afford to fix it, and the answer to that is yes”.
Vaz said arising from the experiences of previous hurricanes and the difficulties of securing insurance for JPS assets, the OUR (Office of Utilities Regulation) had approved in the rates for electricity a charge which goes to what is called the Electricity Disaster Fund from which there can be an immediate resort to fund recovery where there is a disaster such as Hurricane Beryl.
He said the fund currently has an accumulated amount of US$50 million and that JPS will be allowed to draw down on the fund for its recovery.
“As a matter of fact the OUR had approved a draw down of five million US dollars prior to the hurricane to help fund the preparations for the hurricane season,” he told reporters.
