Allen demands explanation for delays to $1-billion artisan village
Bartlett says facility will be ready in October
Published:Wednesday | September 6, 2023 | 12:08 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
SIX YEARS after the Government invested nearly $1 billion in the development of an artisan village in Falmouth, Trelawny, the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) wants to know why the facility has not yet been included in the country’s tourism product offerings.
Senator Janice Allen, the opposition tourism spokesperson, stated that the country, craft dealers, and craftsmen have yet to hear when they would begin to occupy the facility, to showcase the greatest Jamaican craft items to the millions of people that come to the island for holiday or business.
“I have a question for the minister (Edmund Bartlett) about the $1 billion you wasted in Falmouth to build a so-called artisan village that is still not open. What is the status of that investment, Minister?” Allen inquired.
She also wanted Bartlett to tell the craft traders and artisans at the Montego Bay Craft Market what plans he has for them as small tourism partners, especially given the increased construction of all-inclusive and high-end hotel properties.
“In fact, it [artisan village] was built for only 30 vendors, while hundreds of vendors in the tourism capital of Montego Bay have not heard a peep from the minister,” Allen stated at the PNP’s St James West Central constituency conference over the weekend. “Now I’m wondering if he doesn’t have a plan for them.
“Is it that he has a plan for that property (Montego Bay Craft Market) that they are on, because I haven’t heard anything.”
OPENING DATE
The country’s first artisan village, which is being created at the former Hampden Wharf in Falmouth, Trelawny, is set to open at the end of October, ahead of the start of the winter tourist season, which will commence on December 15.
Bartlett provided that timetable in response to Allen, his opposition counterpart, on the grounds that around $1 billion had been invested in the project over the previous six years.
“I agree. It has taken a little longer than expected, but it will be ready in October,” the minister said.
“All the efforts are there now – it is scheduled to open somewhere near the end of October, and we will definitely be in line for the winter tourist season,” Bartlett told The Gleaner.
According to the tourism minister, artisan villages are part of Jamaica’s marketing infrastructure, allowing small and medium tourist partners, notably craftsmen, to display and sell their products.
“But more importantly, to create a setting in which they can execute designs that come to them from visitors on cruise ships or from wherever, and that execution can happen during the period of the vacation here, and then they get authentic Jamaican products,” Bartlett explained.
The artisan village in Falmouth was initially announced in 2016, to be built with 300 stores selling craft and other indigenous products, as well as space to assist the creation of these items by local craftsmen.
Bartlett informed the media two years ago that the artisan village project is a joint effort between the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) and the Urban Development Corporation, and that the building phase has concluded.
The PAJ-owned facility will have 47 stores, five restaurants and bars, 12 micro stalls, and 18 artisan shops on four acres of land at the historic Hampden Wharf. In addition, 12 stores for athletes will be created, as well as facilities for rum tasting, cigar samples, clothes, and a children’s play area.
When finished, the artisan village will complement the adjacent Falmouth dock and reposition it as the Caribbean’s main cruise ship port of call.