FOLLOWING an extraordinary meeting of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (MCC) on Monday, a decision was taken for vendors being removed from the Stabroek Market Wharf, to construct their own stalls at the Stabroek Square area earmarked for their relocation.

A total of 18 councilors voted in favour of the move, which is being put in place since it was agreed that the Council did not have the necessary funds to construct the stalls themselves and given that having the vendors remove from the wharf is a pressing issue. “When we met with stallholders last Thursday, they agreed that they would prefer to construct their own stalls and they would prefer to use wood as the material and they are ready to construct the stalls tomorrow even, once given the permission, under the guidance of the city engineer and with specific dimensions, they are ready and willing to construct their own stalls,” Town Clerk, Royston King, informed the council.

Notwithstanding that the vendors will be doing their own construction, they will still be expected to adhere to building the stalls to the standard dimension of 8 feet x 10 feet and a maximum height of 13 feet. At this dimension a total of 82 stalls are expected to fit in the designated relocation site, according to the City Engineer, Colvern Venture.

However this presents a new situation as approximately 89 stalls currently occupy the Stabroek Market Wharf, however it was noted that preference will be given to those stallholders who trade in perishable goods, of which there are 66 vendors. The area was initially expected to fit 88 stalls however consideration had to be given for an area to construct washroom facilities.

Aside from constructing their own stalls, those vendors desirous of doing so will also be individually responsible to set up electricity at their respective stalls. The Council however will take on the responsibility of providing security lights, taking care of garbage collection and ensuring that the area is clean.

Since the stalls will be constructed by the stall owners they will instead be renting from the Council the space to construct the stalls and will be expected to pay an average monthly rent of $6800. Given that the council spent approximately $23 million, thus far, in the preparation of the relocation site, it was noted by Councillor, Trichria Richards that the Council would operate at a lost with such a low rent.

Nonetheless, Mayor Patricia Chase-Green maintained that she will not agree for the rent to increase given that the stall owners will be paying out of pocket to construct the stalls. According to Venture, it is estimated that one stall will cost some $400,000 to construct. “Rightly $6800 is a low figure but I don’t agree in raising either; not with what is happening, we have the vendors agree to build their own stalls and we give them a grace period, because it’s not easy to find $400,000 – $500,000 to build and then to pay [rent] so we’re still willing to do it,” Chase-Green remarked.

The stall holders will be given a grace period of six weeks after completing construction before they will be expected to begin paying their rent. According to King, the stallholders indicated that they would need less than a month. “We said that perhaps they would need three to four weeks to complete the construction of their stalls, but they said to me that they can do it in a shorter time once they are given permission to build,” King said.
The stallholders will each be required to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with City Hall stating that they understand that the situation is only a temporary one and they will be required to dismantle the stalls and return to the wharf once it has been repaired and is fit for business.