By Garwin Davis, Assistant News EditorDESPITE HAVING gained municipality status and currently being readied for the June 19 Local Government elections, Portmore remains without a municipal building.
And while the Ministry of Local Government appears to be scurrying to secure a building to house the soon to be elected legislature, not many are expecting it to be done in time to coincide with the June 19 polls.
"Portmore is not ready to accommodate anything after June 19," one senior politician who requested anonymity told The Gleaner last night. "You talking about a municipal building...the town doesn't even have a market- not even a proper clinic. Believe me when I say that confusion reigns."
Since 1997, when Prime Minister P.J. Patterson promised to give Portmore city status, plans have been in place to construct a municipality building. Then Local Government Minister, Arnold Bertram, even went as far as to set up a planning committee to study the possibility.
BUILDING
People's National Party (PNP) mayoral candidate George Lee, while conceding that there's nothing to guarantee that a building will be secured within the next two weeks, said the Local Government Ministry is on the verge of signing a lease for a facility.
"Plans are being made as we speak," he said. "The Secretariat is presently being housed in the Portmore Pine Plaza...a small location. The Ministry will be securing a much larger building for the mayor and the other elected officials in the same plaza...this will be done very soon."
But will that be ready by June 20 to facilitate a swearing in ceremony...to accommodate the staff? "I don't think it will be completed by June 20- no," Mr. Lee said. "If I were to hazard a guess, I would say we would move into the building where the secretariat is at until the other building is ready."
Contacted yesterday, Local Government Minister Portia Simpson-Miller said she was conducting a tour and could not comment. Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Member of Parliament for Central St. Catherine, Olivia 'Babsy'Grange, directed questions to the party's campaign manager for St. Catherine candidate Arthur Williams. Mr. Williams' phone rang without an answer.
Parliament last month passed the Municipality Act, paving the way for Portmore to become a Municipality and allowing the community to manage most of its local affairs as well as directly elect its mayor in Local Government elections.
