Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall wants to regulate the vendors at the Port Mourant Market, who not only vend there, but along the road shoulders of the Corentyne highway running through the community, causing an influx of traffic every weekend, and a massive garbage pile-up after.
Vendors on Monday at a meeting with Dharamlall at the Port Mourant Community Centre, insisted that efforts need to be put in place to stop the late market from starting on Thursday and have it return to Friday to Saturday.
In addition to the daily market at the location, for decades the late weekend market has started from Friday, but wholesalers are now coming from Thursday causing vendors on Friday to suffer losses and to reduce their prices.
Dharamlall stressed, “Nobody is stopping anybody from making a living, all we want to do is let us coexist,” adding, that it is important to ensure the unregulated vendors do not outsell the regulated vendors, as such all the vendors should be regulated within the market.
The persons in the market pay $800 per month for their stalls, while those who vend outside would pay $100 daily for clean up as market staff can only collect cleaning fees from those vending outside.
However, the vendors also told the minister on Monday that often the staff arrive late to start collecting fees and the majority of wholesalers would have already left. “Sometimes they [market staff] come at 8 [am] and people done throw down and sell from 3 [am] to 6 [am] and gone and then all the garbage lef.”
Another said, “Sir, me sell fish at the market and me does go pon 3 o clock in the morning and nuff body a sell and gone before them come.”
While acknowledging that market staff will have to visit the location earlier, Dharamlall requested that a survey be done to determine which persons are selling on Thursday, what they are selling, and from what time they are selling and then a decision can be made. He also pointed out that it could be possible that persons are reaping their produce earlier and are trying to sell it as fresh as possible.
Dharamlall emphasised that all the necessary information must be gathered before a decision can be made.
Meanwhile, one of the major issues at the market is that of garbage which has caused neighbouring residents to complain bitterly over the years. Vendors also admitted on Monday that they would pile up their garbage and leave it next to their stall.
The minister then suggested that vendors should place the garbage into bins at the location so that those persons attached to the market could take care of it, as he pleaded with the vendors to be responsible.
Dharamlall also ordered that five persons be hired to clean the market daily, “They will work to clean up the market”, he said, as he instructed the Neighbourhood Democratic Council to purchase bins immediately. “We will also remove the garbage every afternoon,” he pledged.
He also requested that the health department visit after the cleaning and sanitise the entire market and for those persons in charge of the market to ensure that vendors are masked before entering.
Further, the vendors agreed that a long-term solution to the ongoing vending along the shoulders of the road would be to have all the vendors operate within the market. Presently, the market has 630 stalls and the market clerk informed Dharamlall on Monday that 70 per cent of those stalls are occupied.
One vendor explained to the minister that while he has a stall inside of the market, he was forced to relocate outside. He said that one day, after working in the market, his wife had only made $500 profit. It was then revealed that several vendors who have stalls within the market are vending outside to offload their produce faster and at a better price, as persons passing in vehicles would purchase from them.
According to the same vendor, it would be possible for a shed to be constructed at the side of the market where vendors can be placed so as to regulate the market and remove vendors from the road shoulders.
Meanwhile, Dharamlall disclosed that from next year measures will be put in place to have vendors operate with removable stalls so that they can be taken away once they leave to allow the roadway to be cleaned and cleared.
“Then we will reallocate, we will get a list of all the people who have stalls in the market and are not occupying them, next year we will reallocate them to people who want them,” he stated.
He then asked the market staff to create a register of the persons vending on the road shoulders, as well as for them to identify the persons who have stalls in the market but are selling on the road.
The Neighbourhood Democratic Council told Dharamlall that it would try to complete the survey within a week after which the council would be better able to make a decision.
