Dear Editor,
In spite of him being unfairly caricaturized as a demolition man, I have to admire Minister Robeson Benn’s proceeding in his conviction of doing the right things. And in order to get these accomplished with the least resistance I should like to advise as follows:
1. Let the public know the plan, the big picture. We have GINA for public relations.
2. If the plan has to change, let us know, with reasons.
3. When any tendering has to be done for public works, please let it be done transparently.
4. Establish a publicly accessible information feedback system which the contractor must respond to in writing to the concerned person(s). People cooperate when their concerns are clearly taken seriously. We had this kind of good will for at least two years after the 1992 elections.
5. The big picture must show that the order achieved by clearing the Stabroek Market Square of vendors is not going to be negated by the unemployment of people willing to work for a living and who might feel they have to turn to crime to solve their existence problems. Therefore:
a. They must be relocated to suitable locations.
b. If they sell agricultural produce, especially what comes by river, they should occupy the underused Stabroek Market wharf. Insist they remove from the Water Street and other pavements.
c. Split up the bus and taxi terminals and relocate the vendors of manufactured goods, foods, beverages, and even vendors of some raw agricultural produce there. Obvious sites are the old Georgetown railway terminal at the northern end of Carmichael St for an East Coast terminal; Cuffy Square for an East Bank/hinterland terminal; possibly retaining the Stabroek Market for a West Coast terminal. Here is the opportunity to introduce big buses again and use minibuses to shuttle between terminals.
d. The government should gain more votes from the ease of operation of the vendors inside the Stabroek Market, their suppliers and transporters, and the people these in turn employ in the country areas. If the last mentioned can make a living in their villages, there will be less pressure to migrate to the city. Order will pay for itself.
e. The same goes for suppliers and customers of genuine businesses presently being impeded by pavement vending.
f. Successful execution of a properly thought-out relocation plan should also gain votes.
g. No vital part of the plan must be left undone; like the continuing failure to bridge the canal at Garnett St from Vlissengen Road to Irving St, after making alternate one way streets in Newtown Kitty and the parts of Sections E, F, G, H and I, Campbellville west of Sheriff Street.
The damage to the recently refurbished rails of the bridge over the canal at Crown Street is some evidence of the dangers and stresses provided by the resulting traffic bottlenecks on both sides.
Yours faithfully,
Alfred Bhulai