Renovation of Craft Shops to be Completed this Week

Montego Bay’s tourism infrastructure will receive a further boost later this week with the completion of renovation work on another 127 shops at the Harbour Street Craft Market.

The project, which represents a partnership among the St. James Parish Council, the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), and the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), comes with a price tag of just over $51 million.

This brings TEF’s investment in Montego Bay’s craft trade infrastructure to approximately $65 million and follows the commissioning of 15 newly renovated shops at the Old Fort Craft Market and Heritage Centre a week ago.

Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill, who officially handed over the shops on December 23, said the scope of work involved extensive renovation of the shops that were razed by fire on November 09, 2014. The project was priced at $14 million.

Executive Director of TPDCo, Dennis Hickey, said then that the Harbour Street Craft Market is about 98 per cent ready with just a few finishing touches to be made, “before we hand it back to the landlord – the St. James Parish Council.”

“The council will then make all arrangements to hand it back to the vendors. We don’t anticipate that the vendors will be out of the market for more than another week,” he noted.

Work on the 127 shops include renovation of the shops and bathroom facilities and overall painting; upgrading of the existing drainage and soak-away system, as well as the external driveway, lighting, walkways and the existing perimeter fencing.