MINISTER MCKENZIE TOURS FALMOUTH
#PostHurricaneMelissa
On Saturday afternoon, Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon Desmond McKenzie along with the Mayor of Falmouth, Councillor Collen Gager, and Technical Officers from the Ministry and the Trelawny Municipal Corporation, embarked on a tour of Parish capital, Falmouth. The minister and the team had a first of hand look at the damage left behind in wake of Hurricane Melissa.
The tour, which included a comprehensive walk through of the Falmouth Fire Station, the Municipal Corporation Road and Works Department, The Council building, the Drop-in Centre, the Trelawny Infirmary, the Poor Relief Department, and the Albert George Market.
“ The Drop-in Centre and the shelter, is in excellent condition, I visited recently and I am proud, only a few broken windows and doors…The Municipal Building, that building is one of the oldest buildings in Trelawny and in Jamaica, I think the time has come when I have to engage Minister Grange, who is the Minister of Culture to speak about the question of Falmouth and building which are protected by the National Heritage Trust, it is clear that if any of these buildings are to be repaired, they cannot be repaired to the same standards that is set because of the existing conditions,” Minister McKenzie noted while addressing the media after the tour.
The Minister underscored that efforts to recover from the effects of the Hurricane will be a community effort, after a vendor highlighted that the government cannot do it alone.
“One lady said to me, she knows that the government alone can’t do it, and I was glad to hear that so I’m urging the people here, to exercise some level of discretion,”
The Minister further added that the Trelawny infirmary, which sat on the coastline of the parish and housed some fifty patients with fifty employees, was destroyed during the passage of the hurricane.
“I visited the infirmary, and I can tell you that, there is no way that that infirmary will be able, anytime soon, to take back the residents that use to occupy, over a hundred persons, residents and staff operate out of the infirmary. We are now, have to be looking at what is the alternative arrangements that will be made to house the residents” he said.
The Minister commended the firefighters who have continued with civil duties even though many of them have been displaced because of the hurricane.
He also announced that extensive clean-up efforts are underway as the town–which is already seeing some commercial businesses returning to operation, is determined to return to some sense of normalcy. These sentiments were echoed by vendors who expressed that they wanted to have the market in operable condition in time for the Christmas season.
The Mayor expressed his appreciation to Minister McKenzie and added that the Municipal Corporation remains committed to ensuring that the parish of Trelawny will carry out cleaning exercise as early as Monday (November 10) so that vendors will be able to resume trade in short order.
“We are here at the market… cleaning u will start on Monday morning, bright and early, three trucks will be here and we will be taking away all of the debris and we want to clear the parking lot, so as early as possible, we can have bend-down market established on the compound again,” Councillor Gager said.
He closed by assuring vendors that during the rehabilitative period, vendors will enjoy a market fee waiver, as the community works together to recover from the devastating blow of Hurricane Melissa.
