THE management committee of the $155-million Montego Bay Civic Centre will meet Wednesday to examine how they can boost earnings from the facility.

Opened over a year ago, the building was expected to generate revenue from the rental of the town hall, fees from the museum and art gallery, as well as from the car park and an outdoor bistro.

According to Christopher Powell, the secretary/manager of the St James Parish Council, which has overall responsibility for the facility, the revenue has been slow in coming. But he stressed that it was expected that any new facility would take some time to achieve the desired level of intake.

“The management committee will be meeting next Wednesday to look at how we can increase the revenue and attractions there,” he said.

Revenue now generated from the gallery, museum and car park is minimal as these fees are kept at a minimum to ensure that the public can utilise the facility that stands in historic Sam Sharpe Square. Some businessmen now pay monthly fees to use the car park and this generates funds and also reduces street congestion.

The town hall is used to stage plays, and this generates some revenue, as does the rental of the space to other groups that need it to stage other events.

But the revenue is expected to increase after the bistro is up and running. According to Powell, that project will go to tender next week.

Meanwhile, the St James Parish Council is also moving ahead with plans to construct an ancestral park on space created atop the South Gully project. The project hit a snag recently when it was discovered that the original site selected, near the parish church and ice factory, was privately owned.

The council is now in the process of selecting another site.