THE Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) says it will set another meeting in January to begin exploratory talks with the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) to pay the corporation an encroachment fee of four per cent of its net income

The KSAMC said that despite repeated requests the light and power company is yet to show or give the corporation a copy of the special licence agreement that the company says exempts if from the fee.

The corporation, which has been examining ways to improve its income, in 2018 obtained research that stated that municipalities islandwide in a six-month period could earn US$17 million in encroachment fees from JPS.

The suggestion for the municipalities to charge the JPS encroachment fees of four per cent of its net income was made by People’s National Party (PNP) Councillor Dennis Gordon (Maxfield Park Division).

The bid by the KSAMC to charge the JPS encroachment fee, was further buoyed by the legal opinion from the Attorney General’s Office in 2018, which stated that the municipalities had a right to charge the utility companies’ easement fees.

The legal foundation for the municipalities authority to charge the cess are Section 23 of the Electricity Act 2015 and Section 4 of the Parochial Roads Act.

Section 23 of the Electricity Act stated that “Not withstanding anything in this Act, the single buyer or a self generator shall not place or move any transmission line or distribution line above ground, underground, along, over or across any street without the express written consent of the local authority and that the local authority may: (a) require the single buyer or self generator to forthwith remove any transmission line or distribution placed by them, contrary to the provisions of this section, or itself remove the transmission line or distribution line; (b) recover the expenses of such removal from the single buyer or self generator by civil proceedings (without limit of amount) in the Resident Magistrate’s Court of that parish. Approval of local authority for placement and removal of electric line.”

Under Section 4 of the Parochial Act, powers are given to the municipal corporations “for the exclusive care, management, control of all highways, public roads, thoroughfares, streets, lanes, aqueducts and which it is appointed, with some exceptions”.

At the October Finance Committee of the KSAMC, CEO Robert Hill said that he had asked the JPS for a copy of the licence agreement that gave the company unfettered use of the sidewalks.

Hill said that checks with the Attorney General’s Office, and the Government Printing Office had found no such gazetted agreement.

The JPS, when contacted, asked that questions be sent by e-mail.

— Claudienne Edwards