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PORT MARIA, St Mary - Flood-hit vendors on premises owned by the St Mary Municipal Corporation will not be required to pay market fees for the next three months.Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmond McKenzie made the announcement on Thursday during a meeting with flood victims at the Port Maria Transport Centre.A number of shop operators at the transport centre will also benefit from the moratorium."I will ask the mayor, Richard Creary, most respectfully, to suspend the collection of the market fees for three months to allow you some breathing space to recover from the flood. That is small, but at least you won't be bothered to be worrying to pay market fees and then have to try to recoup and get some goods," McKenzie told the cheering business operators.Creary, who was within earshot, reminded tenants operating at the transport centre that they will also get the assistance promised by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.Financial help will be provided to more than 200 businesses operators who have been surveyed by the Social Development Commission (SDC) in Port Maria, Sandside, Bailey's Vale and Jacks River.McKenzie explained that the grants will become available as soon as a payment structure is determined. That structure, the minister added, is to be decided by Creary, along with a group of the business operators adversely affected by the heavy rains as well as the flooding that hit Port Maria at the start of this month."We have not yet determined the amount [that will be paid out], but we will make it reasonable enough," declared McKenzie.But he made it clear that everyone should not expect to collect millions."Let me just tell you, we don't have a million dollars to give everybody; we don't have half a million dollars to give everybody. Anybody who is thinking about that type of thing to go to China and come back with a container, forget it."But we will do the best that we can. There are some persons who have suffered more than some and we will deal with it on the basis of the damage that you have incurred," McKenzie told the relatively large gathering.He asserted that the promised assistance is not a political ploy."This is not an election something because [there will be] no elections for now. So this is not about making any commitment or promises around that. We are responding to the plight of Jamaicans," the minister said.St Mary Chamber of Commerce President Frederick Young, who attended the meeting, welcomed the plan to help the businesses."I think it's a good start. I would have loved to have gotten some tangible figures going forward but, as the minister said, he will still have to do the assessment to look at the number of persons and how much money each person can get in terms of damage suffered..."We hold him to the commitment that he gave that within short order - I would say by the next two weeks - we should see some disbursement taking place, because the longer we wait [to make the payout] is the more it becomes difficult for the business operators," Young told the Jamaica Observer.The minister's plan also found favour with Dr Morais Guy, Member of Parliament for St Mary Central, the constituency in which Port Maria sits."I think the plan to assist business owners is one of the most welcomed announcements that the minister has made, though he has not given the finer details and will allow the mayor and a team from the vending and the small business association to meet to work out the details," said Guy.