MAYOR Patricia Chase-Green said Monday that although construction work will soon begin on the Stabroek Market Wharf, the City Council is yet to find an appropriate place to relocate vendors.
Speaking with reporters following the statutory meeting at City Hall, the mayor said:“If the wharf is going to start construction in the first quarter, we have to move all those people.
“We have to look; we have to find somewhere with sanitary facilities and running water, which puts a strain on council’s finances.
“Where do we get the money to find a new site to put people with the limited cash we have?”
Chase-Green said she is leaving it up to the Markets Public Health Committee to come up with a solution to the relocation problem.
“There are persons now who decided they would sell around Parliament Building; no respect!” the Mayor said, adding:
“It’s not the Council’s desire to prevent anyone from earning a living. You can earn a living, but you have to earn it under rules and regulations.”
Meanwhile, approximately $400M is to be spent on rehabilitating the dilapidated Stabroek Market Wharf, Town Clerk Royston King had told Chronicle in the past.
He had noted that the unsightly structure is soon to be torn down and replaced with a mall-like facility, complete with a boardwalk and entertainment area.
The Town Clerk had said that subsequent to the passage of the 2016 Budget, which will include the proposed sum for the project, the M&CC and the Ministry of Public Infrastructure will commence demolition and subsequent reconstruction of the wharf.

“Vendors ought not to worry, as they will be given first preference to return, once the project has been completed. However, due to the modernisation, they will be asked to pay a little more rent,” King had explained at the time.
The portion of the stelling which faces the Demerara River has, for years, been an eyesore for the thousands who use the speedboat service every day.
The collapse of a portion of the roof three Septembers ago did not deter vendors from conducting business there. Many stallholders have been determined to hold on to the spots they have occupied in this facility over the years, and some have even been occupying those spots for decades.
“The facility is not only an eyesore; it is ruinous and dangerous to the health and lives of persons who use it,” King said.
The M&CC has drafted a plan on which is depicted a newly modernised wharf designed by Kabila Hollingsworth, which will surely vanquish the eyesore and bring a better sight for the public.