Office of the Prime Minister

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Mayor of Portmore, Keith Hinds, has said that his administration would be working to ensure that the Portmore Municipal Council, develops into "an income earning Municipality."

"I want to make sure that this municipality moves from a municipality where we are dependent on Central Government for everything that it wants. I want us to become an income earning municipality," he declared.

Speaking at the Portmore Municipal Council Independence Flag-aising and Civic Ceremony, held on Wednesday (August 6) on the grounds of the Portmore Pines Plaza, the Mayor said that the municipality is planning to open a small business complex.

"This is one of the largest communities in the English speaking Caribbean and there is no reason for this community to be broke, to be poor or pauperised. We are moving speedily to ensure that this community enjoys the independence that 46 years has brought to this country," he added.

Reporting on his recent visit to the City of Hampstead in Long Island, New York, where he was honoured by the Mayor, Mr. Hinds said that the City Council has promised to donate a new fire truck to Portmore. There are also plans to twin the City of Hampstead with Portmore.

Additionally, he said the fire department has offered to train six firefighters from the Portmore Fire Division. "They have offered to train six of our firefighters in a facility in New York, which I'll be writing to the Commissioner about in short order," Mayor Hinds said.

Before the official ceremony, there was a parade by firefighters from the St. Catherine Division, the Pathfinders Portmore Federation of Adventist Youths and the St. Catherine South Inter-Schools Brigade.

Following the Mayor's address, Independence messages from the Governor-General, the Most. Hon. Professor Sir Kenneth Hall; Prime Minister Bruce Golding, and Leader of the Opposition, Portia Simpson-Miller, were read by Justice Daphne Clayton; Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security, Senator Arthur Williams, and Member of Parliament for South East St Catherine, Colin Fagan, respectively.

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