-to facilitate construction of four-lane road
DOZENS OF La Penitence market vendors met Friday with Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn to discuss conditions for their removal.
The vendors, who operate along Saffon Street, in the La Penitence ward, are being asked to remove their stalls by Wednesday (January 20), so as to facilitate the construction of a four-lane highway, which will begin at Broad Street and continue until it merges with the East Bank Public Road. Once the vendors remove, the contractors will then be able to commence the construction of a new bridge to accommodate the proposed highway.
According to Minister Benn, a total of twelve stalls will be affected once the Ministry begins the project, which, he stressed “needs to be done in an effective manner.”
He said the 12 displaced merchants will be relocated “some distance away from the Sussex Street bridge,” but that in the interim, they will be stationed inside of the market.
The Minister emphasized that the project needs to get underway, as it has already been delayed for far too long, which could result in scheduling problems.
“We have been delayed by three months already, because we did not want to disrupt the flow of traffic, or the vendors during the Christmas season,” he explained.
Alluding to the necessity of removing the stalls, he said that the area will soon become a “heavy engineering worksite” and as such, all encumbrances have to be removed.
Continuing, Benn said the area previously occupied by many of the vendors included the pavement and across the gutter which runs along the public road, which facilities were, in themselves, hindrances.
Said he: “The vendors are suggesting that, the pavement and gutter have nothing to do with the works, but we are pointing out that, piling will be done; concrete will be poured, and all the related works executed.”
In giving his assurance that everything conceivably possible will be done to ensure that the four-lane highway is constructed to accommodate the growth in the country, Benn declared: “This is a national project that has to be put in place.”
Meanwhile, the affected vendors remain displeased, despite the temporary plan to house them in the market proper, until a more permanent location is decided upon.
Friday’s meeting with Minister Benn followed a consultation with Mayor Hamilton Green at City Hall on Wednesday, where the vendors voiced their concerns over their impending removal, and the proposed alternative sites for their relocation.
Those proposed ideas include covering the Sussex Street canal, which would accommodate some of the vendors; a plot of land identified in the area as another site; and a third  proposal is to  utilize the City Council’s reserve opposite the market.