City council setting up payment booth for Bourda vendors

From March 1st, Bourda Market stall holders and vendors will be required to pay their rent and other fees at a special payment booth, Town Clerk Royston King announced on Friday.

King told a press conference that no monies will be collected by anyone other than the persons who will be officially assigned to the booth.

“In keeping with this change, we will reclassify our revenue collectors to verifying officers. They along with staff from the City Treasurer’s Department and internal auditors will check and verify receipts. Those who are not in possession of the official council receipts would not be permitted to sell or carry on any trade or business in our market,” King said, while pointing out that the Bourda Market will be used as the pilot for the initiative.

The booth is currently being constructed along Orange Walk, he noted.

King also reported that the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has commenced its vendor registration programme to ensure that all vendors operating within the boundaries of the capital are regularised. As a result, all vendors that are to be registered are required to walk with their identification cards, two passport-sized photos, their TIN certificate and $3,000 to complete the process.

With the vendors registered, the M&CC will be able to build a database that will facilitate the monitoring of the vendors and their activities. The database is expected to compile general information about the vendors and issue them with a unique identification number that will be used keep the city update with their payment information and other relevant data.

Meanwhile, King also announced that vendors who were permitted to sell on the streets for the Christmas season would be required to remove from Monday.

“There is an existing agreement between the City Council and street vendors [and] that agreement suggests certain conditions for vending on city streets, pavements and other reserves. Whoever those individuals who were given space and time to sell for the festive season are now required to move all their pallets boxes… and other things from those areas by Monday,” he said, while also noting that possible areas for the relocation of vendors operating in the Stabroek Market are being scouted.

King also noted that the M&CC has identified areas for landing bays, where all wholesalers will be required to do their business during specified times during the day. These changes, King said, are expected to enhance their financial accountability, transparency and to reduce security vulnerability at different areas.