Coronation market rises from the ashes 'Curry' going 'green'

.Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

The Coronation Market in downtown Kingston is going green, and that is not the colour of the building or the produce sold.

Instead, the multimillion-dollar refurbishing project at the decades-old facility by telecommunications giant Digicel includes environmentally friendly practices, some of which are expected to lead to cost savings.

With Phase one of the renovation of the covered section, which occupies about one-third of the property, nearing completion, Coronation is taking on a new lease on life, courtesy of Digicel, which last year announced plans to relocate its headquarters downtown.

separating garbage

Some of the strategies being implemented in sync with Digicel's Go Green initiative include a garbage-recycling programme, which sees vendor stalls being fitted with red and green receptacles to facilitate separation of garbage.

The red bags at the edge of the stalls will be for recyclable garbage, such as plastic, metal and cardboard, while the green bags to be placed front and centre of the stalls will store organic garbage, such as fruit peelings and spoilt produce.

The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) is partnering with the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC), which operates the market, to ensure that the garage is collected on a timely basis.

The organic or biodegradable garbage will be used by the NSWMA as source material for its compost heap from which it produces fertiliser, while the drink bottles and other recyclable stuff will be collected separately and channelled elsewhere.

Among the cost-saving measures is the construction of rainwater catchment pipe network which will collect rainwater to be stored in tanks and used to wash the market. In addition, the new roof of the market has been designed with translucent panels to allow in sunlight, which should reduce the electricity usage.

buzz of activity

Coronation is the largest market for ground provisions in the English-speaking Caribbean, occupying an estimated two acres.

With competitive prices and the availability of almost everything, it is a buzz of activity for most of the year and takes on a special vigour on Saturdays and special occasions, such as Grand Market.

But over the years, the facility has been allowed to deteriorate with conditions worsening after a massive fire destroyed sections during the west Kingston incursion in May.

The condition of the facility attracted the attention of telecommu-nications giant Digicel, which has embarked on an ambitious and expensive refurbishing project.

"In keeping with the Digicel Foundation's mandate, we have been looking at projects which we could start in and around down-town Kingston, and that is how we found Coronation," Lisa Lewis of the Digicel Foundation told The Sunday Gleaner.

"Around December 2009, our patron and chairman, Denis O'Brien, actually came and toured Coronation Market.

"In April, we announced the fact that we'd be helping the KSAC to refurbish the market. However, we are refurbishing just the covered section of the market. Today, we are focusing on Phase one of the covered area and next month we will be focusing on Phase two of the covered area," Lewis said during a tour of the facility last Thursday.