Programme for improving fruit and vegetable markets coming next Budget

Western Bureau

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has indicated that a special programme is to be announced as part of the next National Budget, through which improvements will be made to markets in towns across the island.

Holness made the announcement while on a multi-stop tour in Hanover on Friday, along with Minister of Local Government and Community Development Desmond McKenzie.

While on the first stop of the tour, at the fruit and vegetable market in Hopewell in the parish, the prime minister said his government would be placing emphasis on improving market facilities in the coming months.

“In the Budget to come, we will announce a programme for markets generally, particularly markets in urban townships of rural areas, and that will be seeking to deal with sanitation, the actual design of the facilities to make sure that they are functional and that people use them,” he said.

Noting that the government was already spending a lot of money on market improvement across the island, he added that there are other such facilities that will benefit under the improvement programme.

The prime minister drew reference to renovation and improvements works carried out at the Hopewell Fruits and Vegetable Market, as one such example of government expenditure on market facilities, adding that a major announcement will be made in the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) soon, with regard to Coronation Market and other markets to benefit from improvements.

Approximately $20 million was spent on the Hopewell Fruits and Vegetable Market between 2021 and 2022, to carry out a major refurbishing of the facility. That market was officially reopened to the public in June 2022, as it was closed during its refurbishing period.

“So, in terms of a local government thrust that matters to people, where people come and buy in the towns, it’s in the markets, and we are going to improve conditions in them,” he emphasised.

Turning his attention to the Hopewell Market, Holness stated, “It is not what I would really want to see, it’s still a basic design, but the best I have seen [locally] so far in terms of orderliness, cleanliness and persons actually using the facility.”

With his knowledge of markets internationally, the prime minister stated that, on a scale of one to 10, with one being the lowest, he would rate the Hopewell market as a seven relative to Jamaican standards.

“What I see here is very encouraging, all the vendors are on the inside, and there is no market vending on the outside of the precincts of the facility. I am very pleased with the facility and the design, but I still hold out hopes that we are going to be able to design our markets to much higher standards,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dave Brown, member of parliament for Hanover Eastern, who was part of the touring party, told The Gleaner that there are more improvements that he would like to see take place at the Hopewell Market, which is in his constituency.

He said he would be continuing his lobby for the continued improvement of the facility.

editorial@gleanerjm.com