Mayor: Approval needed from WASA to wash POS

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Port-of-Spain Mayor Joel Martinez said the capital city is not washed as often as it was done in the past, since approval is required from WASA to do so.

Speaking on The Morning Brew on CNC3 yesterday, Mayor Martinez

admitted that financial constraints, as well as approvals from the Water and Sewerage Authority and the Fire Services, have contributed to the irregularity with which the city streets are washed.

“We would to wash down the streets every single day,” he said. “We have the manpower to do it, and the equipment like power washers, and so on. At some stage, we had a process where we were doing it at 4 to 5 o’clock in the morning.”

He added: “Up to recently, there were photos of street washing in St James. But it is not done as regularly as we would like. Sometimes, the approvals from WASA take a while.”

Earlier this week, the Government announced plans to revitalise the capital city, with sanitation issues being a major concern in those efforts.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley lamented the dirty state of the capital city even going as far as to dub Queen Janelle Commissiong Street the toilet of the city.

Meanwhile, the Mayor said businesses in the capital city, Port-of-Spain, may soon find themselves paying to have their commercial garbage removed if he has his way.

Mayor Martinez revealed that steps are being taken to ensure that business owners take responsibility for waste coming from their establishments.

“We have a lot of garbage that is put out by businesses,” he explained.

“Actually, they should be paying to pick up their commercial garbage; only some businesses actually do this. “We are going to adopt a programme shortly where we will charge businesses for additional garbage beyond the normal amount. That will help us to generate additional revenue to be able to have more trucks and personnel looking after the cleanliness of the city,” he revealed.