– in wake of existing deplorable conditions
FOLLOWING several complaints about the deplorable conditions existing at Bourda Market during the rainy season, the Markets’ Division of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has responded by allowing stallholders to construct new stalls.
This is especially the case in the ‘fish pond’ that has had to endure flooding and other unsightly conditions when it rains.
Clerk of Markets, Schulder Griffith, told the Chronicle via telephone that the stalls in the fish pond have been upgraded and are quite different from the low and dilapidated ones that were there previously.
He said the height and size of the stalls were revised and that the Council is currently in the process of repairing the roof over that section of the market.
According to him, the Markets’ Division has provided the specifications and other details for construction of the stalls but the actual funding was done by the stallholders.
The City Engineer’s Department is responsible for such repairs but works are reportedly stalled due to the Council’s cash-strapped position.
Griffith said only until the roof is completed that there will be an official opening of the new fish pond. He is hoping that this will be done sometime around the upcoming holiday season.
For quite some time now, stallholders have been complaining that, despite having to pay increased rents, they are operating under deplorable conditions and incurring losses following heavy downpours of rain.