M&CC restricts access to Stabroek wharf...
ain’t telling you where you relocating, that’s the problem. If they say, ‘well look, you go hay and she go deh,’ we good, we gon go and build we thing we self. They block hay. Now how we gon sell we goods? I got a set of load in my stall. Fresh, ripe produce,” a vendor whose stall was filled with freshly delivered fruits said.
One woman, who operates a sewing business with two workers, expressed her dissatisfaction with the council’s actions, while saying she was concerned how her staff members, who are single parents, would make out as customers were being blocked from entering the wharf. “All we fighting for is for them to give we somewhere. They barricade by the 42 bus park and now they refuse to give we there. He (King) keep meeting for the past three years and on to now we ain’t get no place, just promises, promises,” she said.
After the officials had
From centre pages
cordoned off sections of the market, the M&CC hosted a press conference at City Hall, where King reiterated that the actions taken were to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the stallholders.
It was noted that the actions taken are intended to protect stallholders from any accident that may occur due to the deterioration of the wharf, sections of which have collapsed in recent years.
King acknowledged that the council has not yet completed some preparatory works on a reserve west of Public Buildings, which it has barricaded to relocate the vendors. “Preparation and allied arrangements to relocate them are taking time and substantial resources, which are not now within the coffers of the council. Hence there has been, financially, a slight setback to our fulfilling the original timeline of one month to relocate those vendors. The council needs another three to four weeks to complete preparation of that area,” he said.
It was also noted that the City Constabulary, with assistance from the Guyana Police Force, will be monitoring the situation at the wharf.