MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Vendors at the Melrose Yam Park have benefited from economic enablement grants and other assistance totalling $800,000) after the facility was reopened last December, following a four-month closure.

The yam park had been ordered closed last August after the Manchester Health Department said there were operational breaches at the facility.

It was recently reopened following renovation work by the Manchester Municipal Corporation.

Member of Parliament for Manchester Central Rhoda Crawford told the Jamaica Observer that 21 vendors at the facility received assistance following the handing over of cheques last Sunday.

She added that she saw stories published by the Observer about the yam park including last Friday’s story headlined “Business slow at Melrose Yam Park”, which reported on vendors hoping that the facility will return to its glory days.

“I wasn’t initially aware of the issues because, of course, the Melrose Yam Park is managed and operated by the Manchester Municipal Corporation,” said Crawford.

“I noticed passing by and saw that the shops were closed, so I reached out to the [chief executive officer] of the council to see what was happening. Shortly after that I saw the newspaper articles,” she said.

“When I saw the last report from the Observer where they mentioned the difficulty of the vendors, when I saw that report I smiled to myself knowing that I had already advanced plans to help them and I knew that I had cheques in hand to deliver on Sunday,” she added.

She said when the facility reopened she spoke with the vendors.

“I decided to do an actual visit there so I could see first-hand if all of what was to be in place was [done] and just to speak with the vendors to see how they were managing. Some of them reported that business had been a bit slow and they needed some help, so I decided that I would offer them some economic enablement grants to boost things for them and during that period many of them asked for welfare assistance,” she explained.

“Based on what they needed, those who wanted the grants valued at $50,000 (each) and the other assistance programmes vary,” she added.

She said the other grants for building material and tuition benefits for the vendors and their families are being processed.