RESTORATION of the historic Kitty Market is on the cards of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) for this year but Town Clerk Carol Sooba said it is now just a matter of obtaining the necessary finances.
Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle yesterday morning, she informed this publication that the municipality is currently working to garner resources for the project from those who are indebted to the Council.

Furthermore, a few other financial avenues are also being considered, she added.

Sooba said an architect must also be retained, so that the market can be restored to its exact original appearance.
Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green told this newspaper, yesterday, that to her knowledge, the undertaking is at a standstill because Sooba has failed to implement the decisions taken by Council with respect to the market.
According to Chase-Green, the Council wanted the job to go to public tender so that anyone who was interested in rehabilitating the structure, or at least portions of it, could have come forward with a proposal and the Markets and Public Health Committee would have reviewed it.
She said the Kitty Market remains a source of worry because vendors are still there plying their trade.
Just recently, several concerned stallholders demanded that urgent steps be taken by
the M&CC and Central Government to save the edifice.

HARSH CONDITIONS

When this publication visited the place, vendors had gathered at one stall loudly complaining about the harsh conditions in which they have to operate.
The stallholders are opposed to any form of privatisation of the market as they believe that both Central Government and the Council have a moral obligation to rehabilitate it.
The vendors, in expressing their concerns, pointed out that many of them depend on the market for their livelihoods and they are quite frustrated over the circumstances under which they are forced to sell.
The stallholders are of the view that the present state of the market is due to the wilful neglect of the Council over the last 15 years.
The vendors claimed they have formed a committee and had written several letters to President Donald Ramotar, (former) Minister of Local Government Ganga Persaud, Mayor Hamilton Green and Town Clerk Sooba, pleading for help.
They declared they are “fed up” of hearing action will be taken and demand that a decision be made for immediate works to start, as the state of the market is driving customers away.
Written By Telesha Ramnarine