John Myers Jr., Staff Reporter
This is the area that has been cleared for the construction of a new fishing village near Jamworld in Portmore, St. Catherine, for fisher folk now occupying sections of the Portmore Causeway. The construction, which should have been completed, has hit a snag as the developers await the relevant permits to begin cosntruction. The complex is to be constructed at a cost of just over $11 million by M&M Jamaica Limited. - CARLINGTON WILMOT/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
PLANS BY the Government to construct a new fishing complex for fisher folk along the Portmore Causeway has hit a snag as the developers of the project await the relevant permits to begin construction.
The construction of the new complex, for which the contract has been awarded to M&M Jamaica Ltd., for over $11 million, should have been completed already.
However, The Gleaner was told that the contractor on the project was being hampered by the slow pace at which the relevant permits were being approved.
Minister of Transport and Works, Robert Pickersgill, at a post-Sectoral Debate press conference on June 15, said construction of the facility should have been completed in two weeks. But when The Gleaner visited the area on Monday, not even the preparatory work had begun.
The facility is being built to accommodate the fisher folk who have been displaced by the construction of the Portmore leg of Highway 2000. They were partially relocated last year and now occupy Port Authority of Jamaica lands earmarked for the expansion of the Port of Kingston.
The new facilities to be constructed on Government lands near the Jamworld entertainment complex on the Dyke Road in Portmore, St. Catherine, will include an area for vending and the scaling of fish, a parking area for customers, a security post and a caretaker's quarters. There will also be an area for the repair of boat engines and other fishing equipment used by the fisher folk. Upon completion, the complex is expected to accommodate about 22 vendors and 170 fishermen. There will, however, be no provision for living areas for those who currently live along the causeway.
