ACTING Georgetown, Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and a team visited the Stabroek, Bourda and Kitty markets Friday, initially to inspect the garbage situation caused by vendors within those facilities and to apprise themselves of the situation regarding illegal roadside vending.

The Deputy Mayor also spoke to the contactor responsible for waste collection at the markets, but when the media approached vendors at Stabroek and Bourda markets, many aired their concerns, which included inadequate lighting and security, poor parking facilities, and repairs that ought to be carried out on the market edifices.

Many vendors at Stabroek Market complained about hire cars and minibuses encumbering the Water Street area to such an extent that they have to park their vehicles far away from the market in order to get to the market.

Some vendors also lamented the market’s poor drainage and leaky roof, inadequate toilet and garbage facilities, and ubiquitous presence of vermin.

When the officials visited Kitty Market, garbage proved to be the least of its worries. The condition of the building made for it to be demolition, one vendor said, and declared that, as a body, vendors would be willing to relocate, provided a proper spot is found for them to occupy.

The Deputy Mayor promised the hopeful vendors to identify places to have them relocated, as the market poses many health hazards, and the Guyana Fire Service has asked that the vendors vacate the premises because it is deemed unsafe.

She said the council is hoping to implement stricter measures to improve efficiency of the garbage collection system, and appealed to the citizenry not to dump garbage on the roadways. She advised that garbage be put in bags and kept until the disposal truck arrives to pick them up.