Thugs aligned to the two major gangs operating in Spanish Town, St Catherine, are causing contractors to shy away from projects in the town.

The St Catherine Parish Council says invitations for bids on road work, drain cleaning and other projects are not attracting the interest of several firms.

This has led to two companies being awarded several contracts.

Acting secretary/manager of the council, Judith Lawrence, told The Gleaner that the two construction companies are the only ones which regularly submit bids for projects in or around Spanish Town.

This has caused the council to award all the jobs to LC Construction and Benthom Construction, which were not registered with the National Contracts Commission (NCC).

Registered

The companies have since registered with the NCC.

It is a similar problem for the council in its efforts to clean the markets and other public facilities in the town.

The cleaning of the Spanish Town, Linstead and Old Harbour markets is done at nights, a job not many persons want to take on.

The National Solid Waste Management Authority has also turned down the job.

The council said it would be putting the contract to clean the markets back to tender, but it appears unlikely that there will be many takers.