VENDORS who ply their wares at the Mon Repos and Lusignan market tarmacs are expressing concern and inquiring about the funds collected from them months ago to provide washroom facilities at those locations.
The issue was one of many that surfaced at last Thursday’s regional outreach of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, held at the Lusignan Community Centre Ground.
According to some vendors who showed up for that meeting, officials had

collected funds after it was raised sometime ago that one of the reasons the tarmacs were underutilised was because of the lack of washroom  facilities for the sellers in close proximity to the tarmacs.
It was also discussed that the vendors would need a more ‘fixed’ market system, whereby minor issues would not need to be sent to the Local Government Ministry, but would be fixed by the Market Committee. This, they highlighted, has not been the case since the committee was established.
Vendors are also complaining about the pile-up of garbage after a day of doing business on the tarmac. The sellers claim they are faced with a new challenge of finding places to put their refuse after selling, as the garbage collectors would not pick up the trash, creating an uncomfortable and dangerous situation for business.
Vendors also spoke about the need for provision of better security at the tarmac, which would see them being comfortable to leave their stalls there.
There have been multiple reports of theft and damage to stalls at the sites; and, to date, the sellers said, they are the ones facing the losses as they have to replace things that have been broken or lost.
Chairman of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) at Lusignan, Mr. Ayube Mohammed, asked the rather vociferous vendors to be patient, as their issues would be addressed, but it would take time.