THE Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) says it is in the process of implementing measures that it is hopes will ease the bundling of shoppers in the market areas of downtown Kingston on weekends.

Kingston Mayor Delroy Williams told the corporation’s public health meeting on Tuesday that vending will no longer be allowed on Spanish Town Road. To facilitate social distancing in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the council meeting was held at the Jamaica Conference Centre and not at the usual venue at the headquarters of the KSAMC on Church Street.

According to Williams, the congestion on Spanish Town Road, in the vicinity of Coronation Market, leaves limited space for pedestrians to move around as vendors, parked vehicles, and taxis occupy the sidewalks, with some even parking on the roads.

Williams admitted that the bungling of shoppers outside Coronation Market on Thursdays and Saturdays, in light of COVID-19 epidemic, is a major challenge which must be addressed if the spread of the virus is to be contained.

He said hat in an effort to facilitate “social spacing” in the market areas, last Saturday Darling Street was “opened up as a market experiment”, and that since the sanitisation of the facility a number of barriers have been erected to ensure people are not too close.

Plans, said Mayor Williams, were being devised by KSAMC engineers to reduce congestion in the market areas. This could include the removal of vendors from Spanish Town Road.

Williams also announced that the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development had allocated $2 million to the KSAMC to facilitate the trucking of water to communities experiencing water supply problems.

“I am aware that water is now being trucked and any councillor with problems in a community can make a request by dropping a line to me or the town clerk,” the mayor said.

— Claudienne Edwards