Falmouth Market on target
The long awaited Falmouth Market is on target for completion in time for the 3rd quarter of 2016.
The market, that actually looks smaller than the existing location, is in fact much larger. This is contrary to the common comment we hear from many persons passing the location (I pass it almost daily): “It looks small.”
Now we are hearing that it will accommodate 370 stalls, 130 (54.2%) more than the 240 at the current location.
The new market costs in the region of $300 million and is financed by the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ). It will also boast a parking area for motorists.
From The Jamaica Observer
Head of the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) Professor Gordon Shirley has revealed that the construction of the new Falmouth Market, funded by the PAJ to the tune of $300 million, is on target for completion before year end.
“I would imagine by the third quarter of this year we will be far along, because we don’t intend to demobilise. What we are doing now is the final phases which are critical,” Professor Shirley remarked.
Noting that the new market will have the capacity to accommodate more vendors and that motorists will enjoy a parking area, the PAJ boss, who visited the construction site last week, had a first-hand view of the new market which is more spacious than the one it will replace.
He explained that the new market will boast 370 stalls, 130 more than the 240 at the current facility.
During Professor Shirley’s visit last week, workmen were seen applying the finishing touches to the final phase of the building, which includes the construction of stalls and installation of roofing.
“We are partly completed. We went to the parish council yesterday to explain what was here and to look at the next phase, which is to expand the covering and the stalls that are to be built and the nature of the stalls that we plan for the bend-down market. All of that is now in progress, so we hope that this will go fairly quickly and Falmouth will have one of the most modern markets in the country in relatively short order,” Professor Shirley told members of the media.
The PAJ, which is the operator of the Falmouth Cruise Ship port, acquired lands which include the parcel on which sits the current market which is home to the bend-down market, the biggest flea market in the Caribbean. Because of the market’s close proximity to the terminal, the PAJ committed to build a new one on another piece of land in the Trelawny capital.
“The market has been a project that has been on the books for a while. We had given the Trelawny Parish Council a commitment to build a new facility which will be more spacious and will have parking and so on to replace that, because that actually is right up against the terminal that is there,” Professor Shirley remarked.
“This is part of the overall project to work between the Port Authority, which is responsible for the terminal, and the town of Falmouth. It’s a work in progress. We have a commitment to try to integrate the town of Falmouth completely with the terminal so that there will be more economic activity flowing into the town of Falmouth.”
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