AS PART of our mission to be the People Paper, THE WEEKEND STAR has been highlighting problem areas across the island. Our reporter Carolyn Johnson, along with photographer Norman Grindley, will focus on a particular area until the problem is fixed. We will then have a rough idea of how long the relevant authorities take to deal with some of the problems affecting our country.

Today, we pause from our usual bashing to commend the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) and its team for a job. Well done!

If you travel along the Mandela Highway, past Six-Miles, on to Washington Boulevard, you would have realised that the road was slowly being taken over by a gigantic forest.

Overgrown vegetation

The blessings of the hurricane season left the island with beautiful, but severely overgrown greenery. The vegetation was so high and thick at different parts along the highway that it was impossible to see the other side of the road. You can imagine our delight, then, when we saw streams of blue shirts chopping away at the forestry.

Joan Gordon-Webley, executive director of the NSWMA, told THE WEEKEND STAR that her team was on a four-week contract under the Road Maintenance Fund to do 'deep cleaning' of the TPDCo leg (TPDCO works with the Spruce Up Jamaica Project.) This leg, she explained, runs from the Norman Manley International Airport, through east Kingston to the prison. It continues up Camp Road into New Kingston up to Waterloo Road and Constant Spring to Six-Miles. She also said that under the fund, the NSWMA will be doing routine maintenance of the area. We are pleased.

Respect to the hard-working teams that have been chopping, mowing, raking and bagging, rain or shine. We must admit, the uniformed teams did not disrupt traffic. When they cleared an area, it is spotless. They have done a great job and we hope it will continue.