New Design for Morant Bay Market Being Reviewed

Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, has indicated that a new design for the Morant Bay market in St. Thomas is being reviewed.

“We are expecting that as soon as this design is completed, we have to assess whether or not having the market in the middle of the town makes sense,” Mr. McKenzie said, while speaking during the opening of the Yallahs Market on March 27.

“We’re doing the assessment; the Social Development Commission has been asked… to get a view as to how the public here in St. Thomas feels about the present location of the Morant Bay Market. Once we have the details, then we’ll be moving to deal with the Morant Bay Market,” he added.

According to the Minister, there are more than 38 markets across Jamaica with 96 per cent of them being more than 100 years old.

“What this Administration has been doing since 2016, while we continue to renovate markets, we are building new markets,” Mr. McKenzie said, pointing to the recent breaking of ground for the construction of a market in Alexandria, St. Ann, and the opening of a brand-new market in Buff Bay, Portland.

A new market was also built in Port Maria, St. Mary. There will also be a brand-new Spalding Market in Clarendon and a redesign of the Highgate Market, which was destroyed by fire.

The Minister also stated that during his upcoming sectoral presentation in Parliament, he will speak on when works on a new market in Port Antonio will commence.

In the meantime, Mr. McKenzie pointed out that for new markets, the concept will be an open-air setting that offers natural lighting and ventilation.

He stressed that markets are an important part of national life.

“This is where our farmers earn their livelihood. They take the crop from the ground and take it to the market to ply their trades. If we should do a check across Jamaica to look at the benefits on education that come out of the markets, you will be pleasantly surprised. Many vendors send their children through school and university to become doctors, lawyers and prominent Jamaicans in this country, who are movers and shakers in our economy,” Mr. McKenzie said.

“They benefited from their parents… their mothers, coming in on trucks, sleeping on stalls, just to put them not just through primary school, not just through high school but to put them through a university,” the Minister emphasised.

He also expressed that the Ministry is mindful that more than 80 per cent of those who occupy space in markets are females.

“That is why over the last couple of years, we have spent an enormous amount of money building or renovating new public sanitary facilities across our markets,” Mr. McKenzie said.