NEGRIL, Westmoreland — Minister of Local Government Desmond McKenzie has warned vendors who will be occupying the Negril Fruit and Vegetable Market when it is completed that they will not be getting free electricity.

The long-promised market is expected to be open next year and McKenzie, who has taken a strong interest in the development, has underscored that vendors who need to access the power supply will have to make their own arrangements.

“I am saying to the mayor [of Savanna-la-Mar Danree Delancy] that anybody in this market who requires electricity must engage the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS). The same way they get credit on their phones, that is the kind of provisions that will be made in the market for electricity,” McKenzie said during a visit to the area last Friday.

“I have already spoken with the JPS… they will go and engage the vendors, and the vendors will buy electricity on credit,” added McKenzie.

He was responding to a query from the Jamaica Observer during a media briefing to provide an update on the market following a private meeting with stakeholders including representatives of the Negril Chamber of Commerce and Westmoreland Municipal Corporation, at James Hunter Event Centre in the town’s Boardwalk Village.

McKenzie declared that the State will not shoulder the cost of electricity used by vendors.

“The municipal corporation cannot undertake the cost of electricity when vendors bridge the light, steal the current, and when the bill is to be paid it falls on the local authorities,” said McKenzie.

He argued that there is a need for a closer look at the regulations governing operations of the island’s markets as they were never intended to stay open for 24 hours.

According to McKenzie, with the investment being made in the Negril Fruit and Vegetable Market it will be something that people will say is properly structured and run.

The local government minister pointed out that fires, many from illegal connections, have been a major problem at markets across the country over the years.

He noted that of the 28 market fires recorded in Jamaica in the past six years, 90 per cent were caused by electrical problems — either due to weather, poor connections, or the stealing of electricity.

McKenzie pointed out that under the current dispensation markets will be constructed utilising a natural flare — high roofing and ceilings that will facilitate natural lighting.

He said work will begin within three months as funding is available for the project.

But McKenzie noted that with the market in the planning stage for the past eight years he is unable to give a final cost for the facility which is being constructed by the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation, with technical support and funding being provided by his ministry.

In the meantime, Negril Chamber of Commerce President Elaine Allen Bradley urged McKenzie to ensure that a maintenance fund is put in place for upkeep of the country’s markets.

Allen Bradley pointed t0 the Grange Hill Market, which she said is in a state of disrepair.

“If we do not build in some type of maintenance in these structures that we are putting up we will be forever repairing,” she said.

While admitting that the State has not done an effective job in maintaining markets in the past, McKenzie vowed that this is being addressed.

“I can say without fear of contradiction: The four new markets that we have built — Clarkstown, Port Maria, Hopewell, and Buff Bay, which is almost complete — have a maintenance component in it. And if you go to the Port Maria Market and look there, you will see that those markets are being maintained,” the minister declared.