By Erica James-King , Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
WITH THE Pye River Cemetery in Montego Bay rapidly running out of space, the St. James Parish Council is now drafting a cemetery implementation plan with a view of establishing a new public burial site for the city.
In noting that the Pye River facility is "about at its capacity", Ian Reid, the secretary/manager of the St. James Parish Council, told The Gleaner that the implementation plan, which should be ready by the end of August, is being worked on by both the council's Roads and Works and Planning departments.
"The sub-committee formulating the plan is trying to identify how feasible it is to establish a new cemetery either at Retire-ment or Lilliput," said Mr. Reid, who also noted that the 100-acre Retirement property is owned by the Parish Council. "A costing has not yet been arrived at as to how much it will take to establish a new cemetery but we hope to have that matter dealt with shortly."
THRIVING BUSINESS
In the meantime, the owners of the new, privately-owned Dovecot of St. James, which is located in the Orange district, some eight miles outside of Montego Bay, is reportedly doing a thriving business.
While noting that the multi-million dollar infrastructural work on the ultra-modern new burial park is still incomplete, Isiaa Madden, director of Maddens Funeral Home, which is spearheading the Dovecot of St. James project, said because of 'high demand', burials had been taking place at the property since June.
"We had a soft opening of the property in June this year and since then, the demand for use of the memorial park has been excellent," said Mr. Madden, who said he hopes that much of the work on the property will be complete in another two months. "We have been having burials there on an ongoing basis. So far we have built over 300 vaults," he said.
