Ferris Zadie, the chairman of the Jamaica Railway Corporation (JRC), has told squatters living inside the People’s Arcade in Montego Bay to vacate the premises as soon as possible.
While addressing a meeting with the Arcade’s shop owners and business operators Friday, Zadie said the ongoing issue of squatters residing in the JRC-owned facility cannot be allowed to continue, although he did not give a timeline for those persons to leave.
The JRC chairman also said his organisation will be giving the Arcade’s legitimate business-owners up to the end of this month to register their businesses.
Last October, the JRC had announced that it would take full control of the People’s Arcade, where squatters had converted several shops into dwellings with illegal electricity and water connections.
The Arcade has been pinpointed as one source for the ongoing rat infestation affecting Montego Bay, as household waste from the facility has been dumped into the nearby gully, turning it into a breeding ground for rodents.