City councillors to meet Stabroek wharf vendors on relocation

City councillors will be meeting with vendors who sell at the dilapidated Stabroek Market wharf and in the surrounding area on a plan to relocate them ahead of scheduled rehabilitation works in the first quarter of 2018.

Sections of the roof of the wharf had collapsed in September, 2014, and in March, 2015, but vendors continue to ply their trade despite the danger posed by the deteriorating structure.

During a statutory city council meeting on Monday, Town Clerk Royston King said that the meeting would be held tomorrow at 10 am at City Hall. He told councillors that not only would they be able to provide information to the vendors on the plans for their relocation, but the vendors would be allowed the opportunity to air their concerns and make suggestions.

King said that a few areas have been identified but a final decision is yet to be made.

Meanwhile, Mayor Patricia Chase-Green called on the administration to work swiftly and put systems in place to accommodate the vendors.

“Since January, I have been saying that we need to relocate the vendors. This is the seventh month of the year and nothing is done as yet. I am happy to hear you are finally meeting with the vendors,” she said.

In July, 2016, it was announced that development of a waterfront at the Stabroek Market was one of infrastructural projects that government was aiming to fund with a grant from the United Kingdom.

Some 335 registered vendors are expected to be relocated. Vendors had told this newspaper that they were willing to move but were concerned about the proposed site.