— says town clerk

City Hall has placed ranks on the ground at Stabroek Market to ward off criminal activities following the closure of the Stabroek Outpost which was recently reclaimed by the Guyana Fire Service.

This is according to Chief Constable Andrew Foo who relayed this information at a press briefing held at City Hall on Thursday.

“It is not something that we would have desired but in terms of the building, it does not belong to the Council. The Guyana Fire Service would have given us notice a few years ago that there was a need for them to occupy [the outpost] based on the fact that they were expanding their services. Therefore we would have had to make a shift back to the Stabroek Bazaar,” Foo explained.

However, since the relocation, Foo said there has been an increase in the amount of “brazen” robberies in the area and ranks have been assembled to keep such activities at bay.
“What we would have done is ensure that, over the last two weekends, when this information was brought to our attention, we mobilised our resources and they would have been working in that area,” he said.

Another matter discussed at the meeting is the deplorable state of the Office of the Clerk of the Markets which Town Clerk Royston King said is currently being addressed.
“We are agonizingly aware of the negative state of the Office of the Clerk of the Markets and not only the office at Stabroek but also if you go to Bourda Market and some of the other markets you will see a similar negative situation and it comes down to resource constraints.

“As you would know we would have not had valuation of properties for properties for over 20 years in the City of Georgetown. That alone tells a story when it comes to talking about the Council’s finances because our main source of revenue is general rates from properties,” he explained.

King then revealed that the City Engineer and team are now completing the final works which will allow for the Office of the Clerk of the Markets to be relocated at the Kitty Market within another three weeks.

He added that this forms a part of the Market Upgrading Programme which began in 2015 and will continue until 2020 as the City Council is in the process of upgrading all its markets, including the East Ruimveldt Market and the Albouystown Market.