The Ministry of Local Government and

Community Development is in discussions with the St. Elizabeth Municipal

Corporation regarding the renovation of the Santa Cruz market in the parish.

“Santa Cruz is developing into one of our fastest-growing town centres in Jamaica and there is a need for a response,” said Portfolio Minister Desmond McKenzie.

“We are going to be turning our attention

to the Santa Cruz Market. This Government is about providing the basic needs

for the people,” he added.

The minister noted that the corporation,

through its chairman and Mayor of Black River, Councillor Derrick Sangster,

will be engaging the vendors to sensitise them about the proposed works.

He was speaking at the opening of a water

shop at Retirement District in Malvern, St. Elizabeth earlier last Thursday.

Turning to other projects being undertaken

in the parish, he informed that the ministry is pumping $16 million to build a

new administrative office on the grounds of the infirmary in Santa Cruz.

The water shop at Retirement, built at a

cost of $9.7 million, will provide access to potable water for some 3,000

residents.

Minister McKenzie, on the day, also opened

another water shop at Top Hill in the parish, which was constructed at a cost

of $8.9 million and will serve more than 1,500 residents in the community and

its environs.