BUFF BAY, Portland — The Buff Bay market, which cost more than $60 million to build, will open its doors to the public in a matter of weeks, according to Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmond McKenzie.

“I am a happy man this morning. I am in a good mood because in the first week of August I will be back here to open this… new market officially. The significance of opening this market around this time of Independence is that this was one of the markets that was chosen under Jamaica 50th… to be renovated,” he said during a tour last Friday.

He commended the contractor and the ministry’s technical team, Mayor of Port Antonio Paul Thompson and the Portland Municipal Corporation for the effort and work done on the construction and keeping it within budget.

McKenzie described the facility as a “modern, state-of-the-art new building”. He noted that there was thought given, initially, to renovate the market but he was quite pleased that the decision to erect a building “from scratch” had paid off.

Now he just needs vendors to use the market.

“I am hoping that after all the efforts that we have put in, the vendors will now come into this new location. It is going to offer them something that is going to be the envy of many parishes in Jamaica — a modern, open market. This is the first of its kind that we are building that provides natural lighting, and I am encouraging the people of Buff Bay and adjoining communities to make use of the facility,” Minister McKenzie pleaded.