A new market was commissioned at Port Mourant yesterday.
The Government Information Agency said that the new Port Mourant market was constructed at a cost of $102M through a joint initiative of the government, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
The market will be administered via a system comprising the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) and the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC).
Commissioning the market, President Bharrat Jagdeo issued a plea for stallholders, consumers and other stakeholders to take pride in caring the facility.
“You see how beautiful it (the market) looks… I hope that this continues. There should be pride in your surroundings. Make it look like something that is worthy not of where we were but of where we want to be,” President Jagdeo said, according to GINA.
Overcrowding and vending along the public road at Port Mourant are now challenges of the past as the new market is spacious enough to accommodate 766 stallholders, GINA said.
Chairman of Region Six Zulfikar Mustapha described today’s commissioning as a red letter day for the region.
Mustapha said that the day would not have been possible without the “astute leadership” of President Jagdeo who visited the market three years ago and made a commitment to expand it.
Yesterday was also a history making day for Guyoil which opened its first petrol service Station at Palmyra. It was also commissioned by the Head of State in the presence of the company’s management team and residents of the area.
The station is situated five miles from the Berbice River Bridge and boasts a service and wash bay and a Guy Shop that sells Castrol lubricants and vehicle accessories, GINA said.
Jagdeo pledged continuing support to Guyoil and said the government is also willing to take the company’s competitively priced products and services into the airline industry.
“The final cost to someone who has a fleet of aircraft ground in Guyana and has to get fuel will have to pay US$5 per gallon. They would never be able to compete with filling up their tanks in Trinidad or the US so it means that we may never be able to have a domestic airline which is so critical not only for the movement of people but the growing tourism industry so even in that area Guyoil is making a foray into,” President Jagdeo said, according to GINA.
