Seiveright: Corporate MoBay’s relentless pressure key to post-Melissa recovery

WESTERN BUREAU:

State Minister in the Ministry of Industry Investment and Commerce Delano Seiveright, says sustained pressure from corporate Montego Bay was a critical factor in the rapid restoration of electricity and other essential services across western Jamaica following the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa.

Speaking in Montego Bay, St James, last Wednesday at a JMMB Group Thought Leadership Breakfast, Seiveright spoke about economic renewal, business confidence, and growth opportunities as factors under consideration going forward.

According to him, business leaders in Montego Bay were relentless in their round-the-clock advocacy to ensure that the western city was not left offline for any extended period in the aftermath of the passage of the dangerous Category-5 hurricane.

“Montego Bay is the epicentre of the western Jamaica economy, a huge revenue contributor to the wider Jamaican economy. So we could not, under any circumstances, allow Montego Bay to be offline for too long or too extended a period of time,” said Seiveright.

He further noted that corporate interests in Montego Bay were unrelenting in their push to have the city’s infrastructure repaired quickly so that the city could get back on track.

“The level of pressure that they applied on the capital city was second to none,” he said. “They don’t really distinguish between morning and noon and night. It’s just another day. One a.m. is a day, one p.m. is a day, who cares, they had no light, that’s an issue.”

Relentless push

Seiveright said the constant calls and updates from business leaders ensured that restoration agencies remained fully mobilised.

“You don’t miss a day when it comes to the people of Montego Bay and ensuring that they get their services restored, when you have people on your case every single day,” he said.

While acknowledging that the pressure was felt by public-sector agencies and frontline utility workers, Seiveright said it was necessary to accelerate recovery.

“Sometimes the pressure we are applying on the Jamaica Public Service guys, and they’re getting pressure from the Montego Bay crew, the Freeport crew, the Ironshore crew, and we are applying pressure on them too. But it’s kind of a good thing, because it puts pressure on all of us to move at record speed,” he said.

Seiveright noted that it was that type of relentless push that caused Jamaica to achieve approximately 95 per cent restoration of electricity islandwide just three months after the hurricane, a timeline he described as extraordinary.

“There was no time to blink. You had to go 24/7,” he said, contrasting Jamaica’s experience with Puerto Rico, which took 11 months to fully restore electricity after Hurricane Maria in 2017.

“It would have been unconscionable for there to be no light until summer. The world just does not work like that,” he added.

Seiveright said water systems have been restored to over 90 per cent and telecommunications connectivity to a significant level. He said the airports were reopened in record time, and that key commercial systems such as ATMs are now largely operational.

“The speed of restoration has preserved economic activity, it has safeguarded employment, and it has reinforced investor confidence,” he said.

Seiveright expressed much gratitude to the overseas line workers, particularly from the United States and Canada, for their pivotal contribution to the recovery effort.

“Their level of efficiency really is second to none, and I’m not surprised that we’re now at 95 per cent just three months after the most devastating hurricane [to] hit Jamaica,” he said, noting that the experience underscored the island’s resilience and institutional strength.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com

Source: Jamaica Gleaner