MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Within the next two months, renovation and expansion work is expected to resume at the Melrose Yam Park.

This comes as vendors there say business has taken a nosedive since mid-2022 following traffic changes to facilitate the US$188-million May Pen to Williamsfield leg of Highway 2000.

The yam park, popularly known for roast yam and salt fish, is to undergo a $12-million project led by Ideas Execution — a construction and renovation business — building a jerk centre and car wash at the facility and be renamed Melrose Village.

The deadline for the highway project — which will reduce travel time from Kingston to Mandeville and other points west — has been extended to August. It was originally scheduled for completion in October 2022. This was then changed to March 2023 before a timeline was given for January 2023.

Chief executive officer of Ideas Execution Kevin Frith, who in March 2022 signed a 15-year contract with the Manchester Municipal Corporation for the facility, said he is awaiting the completion of the highway alignment in the vicinity of the yam park to resume work there.

He told the Jamaica Observer that work on the alignment on the Melrose Hill Bypass affected preparation work which had begun at the yam park last year.

“They originally gave a date [deadline] and they changed that date about three times now. I am saying, for the sake of not wasting money and time, it would be best [to wait]… Not that we are going to wait until it is finished in August, but we are going to at least give it until the end of March or the first part of April before we move any further, just to make sure that whatever other changes that they would make would not affect what we are doing. By that time, I suspect that everything to do with the yam park vicinity would be finalised,” he said last week.

Frith waived the stall fees for vendors since last September following a downturn in business at the yam park.

“As a businessman myself, I understand what they [vendors] are faced with and it would be unreasonable for me to expect them to be able to pay the fees as per normal even though they are significantly negatively impacted by the one-way [traffic],” he said.

Eastbound traffic from mid-2022 was diverted from the Melrose Hill Bypass to the Old Melrose Hill Road to facilitate the construction of an interchange in the vicinity of the bypass.

When the Sunday Observer visited the facility last week only five of the 12 stalls were open at the yam park.

“Business is slow. We get the impact from the roadwork, because it never used to be so before, it is development and this has to happen. We the vendors just wish for the best when it [highway] opens, because we are getting an impact being that we only have one-way traffic and when it opens we are still going to have one-way traffic,” said a vendor who asked not to be named.

“We are going to get the traffic coming from Mandeville. I don’t know how it is going to help us when it is open, things are very slow now. Sometimes I get five customers or less for the day. I used to get 15 per day and even more on holiday,” added the vendors.

Other vendors shared similar sentiments and questioned why they weren’t compensated for the loss in business since the traffic change last year.

The Sunday Observer was told that the National Road Operating & Constructing Company (NROCC) — which is responsible for overseeing the design, construction and maintenance of Jamaica’s highways — provided funding to the Manchester Municipal Corporation for support to the operations at the yam park during the initial seven-month traffic change.

Frith, when asked by the Sunday Observer if he received any monetary support, said “no”.

“I have never received any money from the parish council in relation to any matter surrounding the yam park, none whatsoever. However, there was a negotiation and a discussion with NROCC for compensation, because the original plan did not include turning the road into a one-way…” he said.

“… We had discussed that since the one-way rule impacted the sales of the vendors, it affected their ability to generate the kind of sales that they would usually do and as a result of that it would be unfair for me to charge them a fee to use the facility,” added Frith.

“I was telling NROCC that what they would need to do is to put up some money to cover the maintenance cost of the facility in the interim while the vendors are being affected. To date, I have not received that money from them. However, I still stick to what I agreed to with the vendors which is for all fees to be waived”, Frith went on.

In a letter dated June 20, 2022 addressed to the former CEO of the Manchester Municipal Corporation Winston Palmer, NROCC said it met with the commercial manager of the corporation and principal of Ideas Execution.

“A decision was taken by NROCC to provide a sum of $882,000 in the form of a compassionate grant to the vendors, to help with the loss of income and decreased cost during the period of the traffic changes,” the letter read in part.

NROCC added that it had no direct association with the lease relating to the yam park.

A senior official at the municipality confirmed that the funds were received and that communication was ongoing for the disbursement of the funds to the management of the yam park.

Last year NROCC said following consultations with the local municipality and vendors at the Melrose Yam Park, it had set aside land to build eight additional stalls on the western side of the upgraded road to allow motorists heading westbound to support vending along the corridor.

Frith said he has interest in managing the additional stalls.

“It has not been finalised, but if you go in any arrangement you would become a preferred person, so far I think I have handled the situation with the vendors properly,” he said.

“We have not gotten to that stage yet to decide on which direction those additional stalls will end up, but I guess it is a matter of negotiation. I was hoping by now I would be able to prove my capabilities. I have not been given that chance based on the delays so far,” he added.