By Rasbert Turner, Gleaner WriterSPANISH TOWN, St. Catherine:
SPANISH TOWN Mayor Raymoth Notice announced yesterday that the Ministry of Local Government has agreed to give his Council just over $2 million to effect emergency repairs to the Spanish Town Market.
The Mayor had requested $4 million.
Mr. Notice said that the funds will pave the fish vending section of the market, recondition the butchering area, and improve the sanitation facilities.
It will also finance the clearing of a lot adjacent to the market, known as Grass Yard, to accommodate the vendors until the market has been brought up to public health standard.
Work on Grass Yard commenced yesterday morning, with the removal of garbage from the area.
FOUR WEEKS
The rehabilitation work on the market itself, the Mayor said, will take four weeks to complete, during which time the St. Catherine Public Health Authority will examine its progress on a weekly basis. The market will remain closed during the repairs.
Disappointed that the full allocation was not approved, the Mayor said they were looking to benefit from the Parish Infrastructure Development Programme, but its funds were low following a US$12 million withdrawal from the programme.
"In the interim we will have to work with what we got although it's a drop in the bucket in comparison to Portmore, which is said to benefit from a $7 million emergency programme," he said.
Mayor Notice said for too long the old capital has been ignored, and that the market repairs were costing far more now than it would have cost from as far back as 1999 when representation was made for funds to build a new market.
The programme that will be undertaken is for the immediate rebuilding of sanitary conveniences, repairs to the meat market and renovation to where the fish vendors sell their wares. This comes as a result of a notice of final closure that was handed to the Parish Council by the St. Catherine Health Authority on Friday, October 3.
