Termites making a meal of Glengoffe Post Office

With one of the main buildings – the post office – in the town square suffering from termite infestation, residents of Glengoffe in St Catherine have expressed fear that their community has been abandoned by the authorities.

The state of the building, which from Monday to Wednesday in the five-day workweek, partially due to deterioration and health risk factors, is a cause for concern among residents, who are wary of attempting to walk on to the wooden porch to enter the facility, fearing that it could collapse at any time.

The structure has fallen victim to rust, mould and termites, with Community Development Committee (CDC) President Howard Hunter expressing concern that it has not received much attention since the CDC effected some repairs nine years ago.

When The Gleaner visited the community two Wednesdays ago, the post office was closed, with residents saying that it is usually only open for business on Thursdays and Fridays.

Checks on the Jamaica Post’s website also failed to yield results for the Glengoffe facility, which further pushed the residents’ narrative that it was perhaps no longer regarded as part of the entity’s daily operations with concerns that it could soon be closed for good.

However, a week later, Jamaica Post informed The Gleaner that there were no plans to close the post office, saying that it was not appearing on the website because efforts to update general information on the site were still ongoing.

Jamaica Post further said that the reduction in operating days was due to a decline in business over the years.

“Nonetheless, we continue to offer Glengoffe and its environs registered mail, ordinary mail and parcels service from this post office,” the state agency added, noting that a Spruce Up project had been launched in October to renovate postal locations islandwide.

The project is to also include an expansion of Jamaica Post’s information and communications technology services while improving their overall customer experience.

So far, the Half-Way Tree branch has been renovated under the project and work is currently under way on its Cross Roads branch, both in St Andrew.

“In keeping with our mandate to modernise, the department is in transformation mode and focused on implementing its strategic objectives,” said Jamaica Post, adding that resource constraints would mean that the Spruce Up project is implemented in phases with efforts ongoing to acquire funding to refurbish other post offices over time.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com