KSAC To Rebuild Jubilee Market At A Cost Of $12 Million

The Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), will be rebuilding the Jubilee Market at a cost of $12 million with construction to begin shortly.
Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Desmond McKenzie made the disclosure at the monthly press briefing today (October 15) of the KSAC at its offices in Downtown Kingston.
Citing the importance of the market to the city, the Mayor said, “the KSAC is cognisant of the importance of having adequate and proper market facilities for the people who require these services, but the KSAC will not provide or upgrade these facilities for persons with other motives to take, operate and to deprive the city of the revenues that come from the operation of the market”.
He further pointed out, “we are proposing based on consultation with the Ministry of Local Government to start renovation immediately on the Jubilee Market”.
Mayor McKenzie said that so far, work had already commenced with the Council evicting persons occupying the market illegally and removing 59 truck loads of garbage out of the market.
“We washed the market and we are now putting in place the mechanism for the reconstruction of the Jubilee Market,” he said.
He informed that the KSAC would be adopting a similar design to that of the one he saw in Mexico, while on a recent visit to that country.
The Mayor revealed that the cost to renovate the facility would be funded by proceeds from the insurance of the market, which was destroyed by fire earlier this year, and from the Equalization Fund.
Mayor McKenzie, pointing out that the market would not be completed before Christmas, said that interim measures would be put in place to facilitate vending in that area. “The structure that we will be putting in at the market is something that will be cost effective and will in some way mitigate the high light bill that we will have to pay,” he said.
Turning to the general vending for the upcoming Christmas season, the Mayor said that a Committee has been appointed to examine the issue.
The committee is chaired by Francis Kennedy, President of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, and includes representatives from the Vendors Association and the Island’s Special Constabulary Force (ISCF).
“This Committee has been meeting and has been putting together the necessary recommendations that will come to us by the end of October and at our next Council meeting in November, I will be able to announce the programme to facilitate vending over the Christmas period as it affects the streets of the Corporate Area,” he informed.
He however, pointed out that vending would not be allowed in certain designated areas such as Beckford Street and King Street. “Those areas we will not allow any vending,” he stressed.