MORE TIME FOR CABBIES
Cabbies get six-week reprieve for police records
PEOPLE desirous of accessing any of the 80 reopened route taxi routes across the island will have six additional weeks to submit their police records, after the November 20, 2020 closing date.
The Transport Authority (TA) says that the deadline extension for the police record requirement is to facilitate the appointment system which is now being utilised at the Criminal Records Department in Kingston.
The six-week extension, which will follow the initial closing date of November 20, will give these individuals six additional weeks to submit the police records, up to December 31, 2020.
In the meantime, the Transport Authority says it is urging individuals operating public transportation services without the requisite road licences to ensure that they legalise their services now to avoid prosecution.
“The Transport Authority will not accept liability for any loss or injury caused to those who do not utilise the official channels of the Authority for doing business; if in doubt, prospective applicants should contact us at 1-888-991-5683,” the TA release said.
The Criminal Records Office (CRO) has been moved to Shop 68, Kingston Mall, which is located at 8-10 Orange Street in downtown Kingston after the Duke Street location was shut down due to air quality concerns.
MORE THAN 200 ROADS AFFECTED BY FLOODS
In the meantime, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) says that more than 200 roads islandwide have been severely impacted by the recent heavy rains associated with Tropical Storm Eta.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness says that while under the previous system, Tropical Storm Zeta, 80 roads were impacted, under the latest system 206 roads have been assessed. However, 23 of them which were listed as impassable after Zeta, have been cleared.
Holness hinted that a bill will have to be tabled soon in Parliament, as to the road to recovery from what is obviously a multi-billion dollar challenge to the Government.
He indicated that he has instructed the National Works Agency (NWA) to ensure that all the necessary technical work is done expeditiously, as it will require major efforts and time to have the roads connected, given the challenging landscape”.
He said that the problems for the people in the Gordon Town area were compounded by landslides, including one massive earth movement along the Irish Town Road, which is the natural alternative route for many of these residents.
In relation to the Bull Bay area, he said that additional heavy-duty equipment is to be brought in to assist in desilting the Chalky River, which has been a source of some of the flooding that has impacted that community.
“I want to again underscore the need for residents to ensure that when the Government spends millions of dollars to assist in building resilience in our drainage infrastructure that nothing is done to compromise the systems,” Holness said.
“We might have been able to mitigate significantly the impact of the flooding on those persons at Weise Road, had the groynes stayed in place. I am informed that some of the groynes in that area… were compromised,” he suggested.