Call to put street lights along Orange Bay to Negril road
Published:Monday | February 13, 2023 | 12:05 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE LACK of adequate lighting on the heavily traversed roadway between Orange Bay and Negril in Hanover has become a topic of discussion with councillor for the Green Island Division in the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), Marvel Sewell, calling for the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) to finance the installation of street lights along that thoroughfare save, and protect lives.
“The TEF gets its funding from tourism and the parish of Hanover has a large quantity of hotel rooms and other tourism facilities within, so it’s only fair that the TEF does some proportionate spending of its funds within this parish,” Sewell stated, while making an address at the monthly HMC meeting on Thursday.
The Green Island councillor had lobbied the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development back in 2019 for street lights to be placed along the approximately four miles of heavily trafficked thoroughfare, but only managed to secure approval for 10 street lights for the area. After several hitches, these were eventually installed in 2022, which only provided lighting coverage for less than one mile of roadway.
Sewell told The Gleaner then, that the 10 lights were a start, and his efforts to get the whole four miles of roadway properly lit will continue.
NOT PROPORTIONAL
Also, Sewell said that he is concerned about the TEF spending in Hanover, as it is not proportional in any way to what the agency is collecting from the tourism sector operations in the parish, and also when compared with what it is doing in other parishes.
“When you look on the ‘Elegant Corridor’ in Montego Bay, which was lit by the TEF, from Orange Bay to Negril where that beautiful 12-million dollar Welcome to Negril sign is, it’s darkness all the way. So all I am asking of the TEF is that if they could put street lighting from Orange Bay to where the sign is, it would make a lot of difference,” Sewell stated.
He argued that residents from across the parish, including workers in the tourist industry in the Negril area, the police and all who use the Orange Bay to Negril thoroughfare at nights, have expressed concern about the darkness that prevails.
In his continued reference to the recently installed ‘Welcome to Negril’ sign, which is along the same roadway and was financed by the TEF, the Green Island councillor argued that it makes no sense that such an expensive sign is placed in complete darkness, in what he describes as “in the wilderness”.
“So I am just asking if the TEF could just do the right thing and spend some of the tourism money in assisting in putting street lighting along that roadway,” he stated.
Mayor of Lucea and chairman of the HMC, Sheridan Samuels, while describing the amount of TEF money being spent in Hanover as “a drop in the bucket”, also said more needs to be done for the parish by that agency.
“What’s the sense in prettying up the thoroughfare from say Montego Bay airport to Ocho Rios, and Negril is more popular than most of those areas, and yet no attention is being paid to the Negril area. It’s as if Hanover is some stepchild,” Samuels queried.
He too emphasised that more from the TEF funding ought to be spent in Hanover, and advised Sewell to do a project proposal for the lighting of the Orange Bay to Negril roadway, and submit same to the TEF, and observe how the proposal is treated over time.