~~The management of the Rocky Point Fish Market is now officially in the hands of the community. His Worship The Mayor Cllr. Scean Barnswell handed over the market's keys to Rocky Point Development Council Benevolent Society President , Mr. Authur Coleman, on Saturday, April 12 during a ceremony organised by the Clarendon Parish Council.
Mayor Barnswell urged the organisation to be good managers, apply sound business practices and comply with the rules and regulation of the Parish Council in its operations.
“I want to encourage you to keep seeking out innovative and creative ways to attract new business to the market; sustain your clientele; enhance your offerings and be of greater service to the community,” he said.
“The new managers are charged to maintain the facility in good order because this [The Rocky Point Fish Market] should be viewed as a model hub for trading in fish in South-East Clarendon and we want this facility to be around to serve future generations who aspire to partake in the trade.”
Mayor Barnswell echoed Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller’s view on the value of the Rocky Point Market to the community. Both the Prime Minister and the Mayor said that markets are important cultural centres and are traditionally the source of livelihoods for several rural folk particularly women. They both described the project significance in terms of the implications it holds for rural development.
The Mayor reiterated the Clarendon Parish Council’s firm commitment to rural development, which is a priority in our development agenda.
The Prime Minister urged the beneficiaries of the market to keep the facility clean while Mayor Barnswell committed, on behalf of the Parish Council, to continue working with the Rocky Point Development Council Benevolent Society in the transitional phase of the market’s operation.
The Rocky Point Market project was funded through a grant from the Caribbean Development Bank and facilitated through the Jamaica Social Investment Fund’s (JSIF) Basic Needs Trust Fund. JSIF’s Managing Director, Mrs. Scarlette Gillings, said this was the first project being funded by the CDB as well as the first market project undertaken by the organisation.
The handing over ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Noel Arscott; South-East Clarendon Member of Parliament, Mr. Rudyard Spencer and Councillor for the Rocky Point Division, Mr. Winston Maragh.
