THE Portmore Municipal Corporation gave formal notice on Wednesday that it has moved from six units occupied at the Portmore Pines Plaza and has taken up full residence at its new headquarters in Cookson Pen, Braeton, St Catherine.

The move comes a few months after the Jamaica Observer in October highlighted the fact that the municipality continued to pay rent at Pines Plaza some two years after a new structure to house the local authority had been completed.

Rental, it was subsequently estimated, was over $1 million monthly. The Sunday Observer reached out to Portmore Pines management to find out the new rates at which individual shops – now vacant – will be offered to new tenants, but the responsible individual promised to call back with the information.

Wednesday’s notice from the municipality read: “The Portmore City Municipality wishes to advise the public that effective Monday February 7, 2022, our office at Shops 81 to 86 in Portmore Pines Plaza will be relocated to Lot 1 Cookson Pen Braeton Parkway, Greater Portmore.

A new telephone number of 876-618-7601 was also given.

On December 14, 2021, sources close to the office of the mayor of Portmore indicated that three of the corporation’s eight departments had made the move to the spanking-new building in Braeton, constructed from 2019, but which had stood empty for the past two years.

Since construction, the municipality is estimated to have paid around $40 million for rented space for its operating units.

Following the disclosure, the Building, Planning and Enforcement divisions of the municipal corporation were transferred from Portmore Pines Plaza to the new quarters at Cookson Pen. At the time, the source said that departments remaining to be transferred were Enforcement, Audit, Accounts, Cooperatives, and Commerce.

The Corporation’s new HQ, largely completed in 2019 except for fencing and parking, was the result of a $190 million contract issued in May 2017. Work began about a month later with scheduled completion in February 2019.

The new building is described as a 22,654-square foot structure with ground floor, first floor and attic floor, with energy-efficient features such as solar street lighting and LED lighting.

Responsibilities of the Jamaican municipal corporations including Portmore are developing, managing and maintaining infrastructure and public facilities such as parochial roads, water supplies, drains and gullies, parks, recreational centres, markets, abattoirs, pounds, cemeteries, transportation centres, public sanitary conveniences and public beaches.

The Portmore Municipal Corporation also pursues local economic development projects which have seen the construction of Ackee Village (2017), the hosting of Economic development workshops, fairs, and the staging of Ease of Doing Business (EODB) seminars. It is also tasked with promoting Portmore as a community tourism destination.

Currently a Bill to convert Portmore into the island’s newest parish is being debated in Parliament.