THE Portmore Municipal Council has been asked to take over operations at the Causeway Fishing Village in St Catherine, but vendors there can expect no improvement in sales any time soon.

Earlier this month the Jamaica Observer highlighted the plight of fish vendors, who complained that business has been slow at the complex located on Dyke Road, next to the Jamworld Entertainment Complex.

The vendors were relocated to the complex from near the now-defunct causeway to facilitate the construction of the Portmore Toll Road, more than 10 years ago. Then, the vendors were thriving entrepreneurs, but now customers seldom visit their stalls, they said.

Last week, Portmore’s mayor George Lee, revealed that the municipal council had been asked by the National Road Operating and Construction Company (NROCC) to take over the premises. That proposal is still being reviewed, he said.

“We have to critically look at it because there are some challenges in that area and we are going to have to give it our full attention to see if we can accommodate it,” said Lee.

“They would like us to take it over under certain conditions and we are looking at them,” he continued. “But there are some problems. Traffic doesn’t flow there and there is not a bus route that goes there (Dyke Road). There are also a number of other things we have to look at,” said the mayor.

“But if we find it feasible then we will deal with it, but we have to look at the proposal,” Lee noted, adding that the council is already cash-strapped by its other responsibilities, including bushing and cleaning drains, which continue to fuel mosquito problems in Portmore.

Asked NROCC’s reason for making the proposal to the municipal council, Lee said: “I suppose that they are not in Portmore and they feel that it would be better managed by the local authorities.”

The recently constructed village — capable of housing some 100 vendors — was also marred by the murder of two fishermen by robbers there. This also scared customers, noted the vendors, who this month tried to assuage buyers’ fears.

“We have the police presence, like 24 hours. Every now and again a police patrol will drive through and check to see if everything is okay,” said Claudia Maragh, former secretary of the Causeway Fisherfolk Friendly Society, earlier this month. She said, then, that security would increase with the opening of a police post in two weeks.

The post has been opened and has further bolstered security, Maragh said on Friday.