Bartica market to undergo $20M renovation

GUYANA - Residents of Bartica, Region Seven, will soon be the beneficiaries of a modern market. During an interview with the Department of Public Information, Town Clerk Phebe Wallerson disclosed that in a few weeks, the Bartica market will undergo major rehabilitation works.

According to the Town Clerk, the municipality intends to design the Bartica Market as one of the first ‘green markets’ in the country and is eagerly anticipating its completion.

“We also intend (that) it not just be a place for selling goods and acquiring products that you need, but we also want to ensure that our marketplace can be a tourism point within our municipality as well,” Wallerson stated.

According to the Town Clerk, the estimated cost of the rehabilitation, which will commence in a few weeks, is $20 million, and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2018.

Wallerson said that the market has been a place of neglect for quite some time and explained that “with our council, we see the value in the opportunity for small businesses to operate within our market, and we value the efforts of our residents to sustain their businesses so we believe that the council has to play its role in ensuring they are able to inhabit a facility that lends to the development of their businesses.” Wallerson said vendors who currently occupy the market have already been notified of the upcoming works and have promised the council their full support. Additionally, she disclosed that the council has also embarked on a project to develop the community centre. The facility will see major structural changes which include the construction of an all-purpose court for the youths of the community. The project was facilitated through a grant provided by the Department of Culture, Youth and Sport.

Those are just a few of the major projects that the fairly new town has undertaken for its development. The Bartica Golden Beach Boulevard project commenced last month as part of the Green Bartica initiative and is now 40 percent complete. Mayor Gifford Marshall told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that thus far, five mini-marts have been constructed and works have commenced on the walkway. The contract for this project was one of the seven signed under the Ministry of Communities’ Community Infrastructural Improvement Project (CIIP) earlier in the year. Contractor Ivor Allen is currently carrying out the project at a cost of $40.8M.

(Kaieteurnewsonline.com)