The Spaldings market as it stood in June of this year. - File

MAY PEN, CLARENDON:

With less than two months to go before vendors and shoppers are engaged in Christmas activities, there are worrying signs that the Spaldings Municipal Market, which has been under construction for almost two years will not be occupied by vendors this year.

The facility, whose construction was slated to be completed six months after work started, is now in limbo. No work is taking place.

Time is running out

Mayor of May Pen, Milton Brown, told The Gleaner during an interview on Sunday at a Jamaica Labour Party Area Three council meeting at Spaldings High School, that there was a problem surrounding the project and time was running out.

"We still have a problem there. The market is not complete. There is currently a period where not much is happening there. However, we are hoping that by the third week in November, we will recommence the work. We have some difficulties and they have not been sorted out," explained the mayor.

Dissatisfied with project

He pointed out that the Clarendon Parish Council was dissatisfied with matters relating to the contract for the facility's construction and how the work was being managed.

Mayor Brown said the work had not progressed well, because it was too labour intensive. This, he said, had resulted in inefficient spending, which had to be corrected before the project moved any further.

According to Brown, the promise made in June to have a section completed for occupancy by December will not be realised.

Lift up Jamaica has provided $15 million for the project, while the Clarendon Parish Council is providing an additional $5 million.

Vendors complaining

In the meantime, vendors who were relocated to the nearby bus park in the town of Spaldings, following the demolition of the old market are complaining that the police harass them when they try to sell on the streets.

Sarah Haynes, who has been selling in Spaldings for over 30 years, told The Gleaner that public sanitary conveniences were needed in the park, as well as lighting; and so vendors had to go on the street in the evenings for safety reasons. When this happens, she explained, the police seize their goods.

Mayor Brown, in responding to the concerns of the vendors, said as soon as the new facility was completed the vendors' problems would be addressed.

The mayor also said he did not buy the sanitary convenience argument because there was one two minutes away from the bus park.

On the matter of lighting, the mayor said the Clarendon Parish Council did not run night markets, so there would have been no need to install lights for the vendors.

- George Henry