Thu | Mar 28, 2024

Silvera wants greater JamaicaEye presence in Montego Bay

Published:Monday | July 27, 2020 | 12:05 AM
Janet Silvera (seated, second right), the newly reinstalled president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with her vice-presidents and board of directors.
Janet Silvera (seated, second right), the newly reinstalled president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with her vice-presidents and board of directors.

Western Bureau:

Janet Silvera, who was given her own mandate to serve as president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) last Wednesday night, says one of her first missions will be to secure a meeting with JamaicaEye with a view of getting more security cameras for Montego Bay.

Silvera, who was elevated from vice-president to president of the chamber after former President Winston Lawson resigned just months after he was elected to serve a second term last June, says she is prepared to petition National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang to ensure a meeting with JamaicaEye.

“We need to ensure that we get JamaicaEye coming into Montego Bay now. We have written to them and they promised to come, and it does not seem like it is going to happen anytime soon, so if we cannot get them to come, then it is suggested that we go to the commissioner of police and the minister of national security to see how we can get them to come to Montego Bay,” said Silvera.

According to Silvera, JamaicaEye recently met with a group of businesspersons at the Freeport Police Station in Montego Bay. However, she said the entity is yet to meet in an official capacity with the MBCCI, despite several invitations being extended to them.

“We have spoken with a number of our members who are willing to support them (the JamaicaEye system). We have sent them a letter asking them to come back and meet with you (the chamber); plus, we invited them to do a virtual meeting, but it has not happened,” said Silvera.

Cameras coming

During the September 2018 monthly meeting of the chamber, JamaicaEye project coordinator Emil Holgate said that 300 closed-circuit television cameras would be installed across Montego Bay to supplement the 70 cameras already installed in the city under the JamaicaEye programme. However, those additional cameras are yet to be installed.

JamaicaEye was launched on March 14, 2018, as part of an islandwide network of camera surveillance systems designed to assist the authorities in responding to situations such as disasters, criminal acts, and accidents.

Silvera also stated that her presidential mandate will include working more closely with the St James Municipal Corporation (StJMC) to develop Montego Bay.

“I am now able to present my own mandate through my own committees, and obviously I will be able to do a lot of things I wanted to do for years, as a Montegonian. The first order of business is that we are putting a group together that will go and meet with the StJMC, because they need to tell us where the redevelopment plan is that we have been hearing about for Montego Bay,” said Silvera.