Jamaican Infrastructure Operator (JIO), operator of Highway 2000, presented a $50,000 donation to the Southborough Primary School recently to assist with repaving the school's driveway.

The funds were made available in response to requests from members of the school's Parent Teachers Association (PTA).

Speaking on behalf of the PTA, Vice-President Christopher Rhoden noted: "The donation is well appreciated and comes at a time when it is most needed, because the driveway is virtually impassable when it rains and water settles on the surface."

Nicole Kuster, administrative and communications chief officer at JIO, in presenting the cheque to Rhoden, expressed pleasure in being able to assist the institution at the time.

urgent attention

"JIO is always interested in providing assistance to our neighbours, in so far as we are in a position to help. We became aware of the problem at Southborough through the PTA and we felt that the situation needed urgent attention."

Kuster said that JIO was aware that its donation would help to initiate the mobilisation effort to begin the project and hoped that further assistance would come from other corporate and community sponsors to ensure that the driveway was repaved in a timely manner.

Carlyle Thompson, principal of Southborough Primary, also expressed appreciation to JIO for stepping in to fix the long-standing problem. Keith Hinds, mayor of Portmore, and Keith Blake, councillor of the Independence City Division, also participated in the presentation exercise and both were equally happy with the assistance given to the school.

The school's PTA said its members were very hopeful that the repavement project would be completed very shortly to ease the inconvenience faced by the students and the general school community when it rains.