Porus Market to close

Donovan Anthony Mitchell, mayor of Mandeville, has said that the Porus Market as we know it will inevitably close down to make way for a newer and better development.

"There is a possibility that you may have a scaled-down version of the market. There are still ideas as to how we'd do the property; you'd make shops available, you'd do haberdashery on one side. If not, we may close the market for good. It is how best you do with the site that you have," he said.

Mitchell told CENTRAL STAR that in recent times, the market has not been significantly contributing to the economic growth of the town, especially since the closure of the slaughter house. He added that a committee has been out in place to examine what options would be best suitable for the use of the property.

"Teams have been put in place to look at the property itself, and to propose to the council the best use of the land itself. In short order, we're going to have the highway bypass in the town, and you don't want to expend millions of dollars doing something and then it goes dead after a while," he said.

The mayor, however, did not give a timeline for when these changes will take effect.