And there will be light ... Paulwell promises New Year's gift for St Bess communities

Two communities in North West St Elizabeth — Johnson Bush Road and Red Hills/10 Foot Road — are set to get electricity for the first time by the end of January next year.

In making the announcement, Phillip Paulwell, the energy minister, said he has been advised by the former Rural Electrification Programme (REP), now the National Energy Solutions, that the project will start in January 2016 and will be completed by the end of the month.

Paulwell was responding to questions tabled by J.C. Hutchinson, the Member of Parliament for North West St. Elizabeth.

Hutchinson had tabled questions for Paulwell to address the extensions of electricity supply to Johnson Bush road and Red Hills/10 Foot road in his constituency.

Johnson Bush Road, which is located in the Woodlands area of the constituency has about 25 houses that are in need of electricity, while Red Hills/10 Foot Road, a community located off the Lacovia Main Road has approximately 40 houses.

Hutchinson told The Gleaner that the process of bringing electricity to the areas began in 2010.

"They were started the digging of holes for the light poles in some areas but since the change of government [in 2011], things fell apart," Hutchinson told The Gleaner.

At present, 95 per cent of the country is covered, which Paulwell said is due in the main to the role of the REP established in the 1970s.