News

Falmouth market could reopen for Easter

By ERICA JAMES-KING, Staff Reporter

Female workers were seen on the weekend raking marl in the vicinity of the entrance to the meat/fish unit, inside the Falmouth market. This was part of the finishing touches to the Falmouth market upgrading exercise. - Herbert Mckenis

Western Bureau:

THE FALMOUTH MARKET in Trelawny, reputed to be the home of the Caribbean's most popular flea markets (Wednesday's 'ben dung' market), could be in full swing for the Easter holidays.

This as the Public Health Department, which had closed the facility down for more than a month, will be doing a final assessment of the site today.

Dr. Maung T. Aung, Medical Officer of Health for Trelawny, is optimistic that no major hurdles should stand in the way of his department moving to give the Parish Council the "written permission to reopen the market", following today's inspection of the site.

Dr. Aung said what had stood in the way of the facility getting the nod last week was that cleaning up of construction material at the site and the drain-cleaning exercise remained incomplete.

The MOH got a first hand look at the work being carried out at the market last Tuesday, when Dr. Aung led a team from the Public Health department and the Parish Council on a penultimate assessment of the market.

Confident

In the meantime, while the Trelawny Parish Council is disappointed that the market was not given the green light to reopen on the weekend as the council had anticipated, the council is confident that it will be re-opened in time for vendors to benefit from the Easter shopping frenzy.

Both David Gardener, Acting Secretary/ Manager of the Trelawny Parish Council, and Mayor of Falmouth, Councillor Jonathan Bartley, acknowledged that some fine-tuning to the renovation of the market was carried out on the weekend to ensure that the market is in tip-top shape.

"While rehabilitation of the internal wirings are complete, there are still some connections to the major electricity supply, which had not been done when the public health inspectors last conducted their tour, and we are addressing that," Mayor Bartley told THE STAR on the weekend.

To date, sections of the food market and haberdashery have been paved, malfunctioning bathroom fixtures were replaced, several sections of the market have been painted and the meat/fish unit has been renovated and the ventilated areas have been meshed. The drains have also been cleaned.

The market has been closed for more than a month. On February 22, it was shut down by the Public Health Department for failure by the council to correct serious public health breaches at that facility.

The Local Government Ministry granted $2.5million for repairs to be effected on the market, but the council had complained that the money fell "woefully short" of the $9million it had requested.