St James Health Department to serve notice on Jamaica Railway Corporation

The St James Health Department says it will be serving a notice on the Jamaica Railway Corporation (JRC) to get it to improve sanitary conditions at the People's Arcade in Montego Bay.

The chief public health inspector for St James, Lennox Wallace, says the facility has been converted by squatters into a residential area over the past five years.

He says a letter had previously been sent to the JRC to address the problem of squatting and improper waste disposal in the commercial facility, which is owned by the JRC.

However, he says the JRC has not responded fast enough to that letter.

He says if the JRC does not respond favourably to the Health Department's notice, court action could be taken to address the issue.

Last October, the JRC voiced its intention to take charge of the People's Arcade, where squatters had converted several shops at the facility into dwellings with illegal electricity and water connections.

Household waste was also being dumped into the nearby gully.