KINGSTON, Jamaica. More than 1,500 abandoned cars have been hauled off the nation’s streets since the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) launched its clean-up drive two years ago, but the programme is running into legal delays and municipal pounds filled to capacity.
The NSWMA’s derelict vehicle removal programme, which began in July 2024 and operates across all 14 parishes, had taken 1,628 vehicles to disposal sites as at September. Many other vehicles remain tied up in protracted police investigations and insurance claims that can drag on for years, hampering the work of the authority and the municipal corporations.
NSWMA Executive Director Audley Gordon said the law requires owners to be ticketed first, with a waiting period after the notice expires before a vehicle can be moved. The agency often grants extra time when owners ask to retrieve parts, he said, but derelict cars will not be allowed to sit indefinitely on narrow roads. Some have become health hazards where water settles and breeds mosquitoes, and security hazards where “man can hide in them”.
The Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation has run its own programme under the Cleaner Kingston initiative since last year, removing more than 1,000 vehicles. Mayor Andrew Swaby said most removals follow complaints from residents, in communities including Hope Pastures, Mona, Cherry Gardens and Duhaney Park.
— LRTVS News Desk
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