St James Municipal Corporation is expected to spend $15 million to rehabilitate sections of Charles Gordon Market in Montego Bay.
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MONTEGO BAY, St James — Even though the St James Municipal Corporation has received less than 10 per cent of the $100 million needed to fix Charles Gordon Market, Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon is confident a scaled down repair job will be enough to get street vendors selling from the market’s main building later this year.
“The proposed budget, conservatively, is $15 million for that section,” he said during a press conference Monday.
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“I am not referring to the section that we did the year before last year, which is the reinforcement of the columns. I’m not counting those because even with those in place, we are still not able to do what we want as yet,” he explained.
The mayor was outlining plans for the municipality over the next financial year.
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The Charles Gordon Market has for some time been on a list of places to be upgraded by the Ministry of Local Government. It is to be rehabilitated in phases with phase one including structural reinforcement. Vernon said Monday that there were plans to spend up to $100 million on the market.
“So far we have received $8 million, and we await the ministry to provide further updates pertaining to the balance of the payments,” he said in response to questions from the media.
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The mayor pointed out that there had been no announced time frame in which the funds would be delivered and so the municipal corporation continues to wait. He was confident, however, that though they are starting from scratch, they will be ready for vendors to get off the street and into Charles Gordon Market by later this year.
He thinks $15 million should be enough to fix some of the issues plaguing the market’s main building.
“That section of the market will be our focus, we will carry out the necessary repairs to facilitate their operations in a conducive space and a proper way,” said Vernon.
“We will fix that area, ensure that the necessary amenities are in place: bathrooms, stalls, everything that they need to operate as a proper business operator. We will provide that within the main building so that they can relocate from our streets and into the market,” the mayor added.
He was adamant that vendors must use the facility after it is repaired.
“The vendors will return to the main building of the Charles Gordon Market before the end of the second financial quarter of this year,” Vernon insisted.
He said there are also plans for the area called Gun Court, but those will come later.
