Dear Editor
THE Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown express serious concern with how several vendors treat with their health and safety.

In 2018, they deemed the Stabroek Market wharf as unsuitable for human habitation. The Council’s Occupational Health and Safety officer have put up the appropriate notices and materials indicating that the situation there is dangerous and unsafe.
Information reaching the Council state that some person who frequents the wharf removed

the notice erected [for] stallholders [and which] reads as follows:
In August 2018, a cease order was issued for the vendors to quit occupancy, this was premised on inspections done by the City Engineer’s Department. Several vendors continue to occupy the area in spite of the threat it presents to life and limb. Again, in June 2019, vendors were asked to remove by the way of a cease order.

It is public knowledge that the Stabroek Market wharf has collapsed and that those who continue to ply their trade there, as well as those who continue to support them, are doing so in a disastrous situation. The Council and vendors have agreed to use the East Bank car/bus Park to facilitate temporary relocation. To date, some vendors have not yet occupied their stalls even though they have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Council to vacate the wharf area, one hundred and twenty-one (121) vendors have signed the MoU, one hundred and six stalls (106) have been completed so far and twenty-seven (27) of those stalls have been occupied.

[The] Georgetown Municipality is doing its utmost to honour its obligation and to provide a safe environment for its legal tenants (stallholders). All the Council needs is cooperation. The vendors have expressed concern about security and sanitary facilities. At Statutory meeting held on Monday, August13, 2019, His Worship the Mayor Ubraj Narine stated that the City Constabulary Department must provide the necessary security protocols to safeguard the goods of the Council’s legal tenants. The City Engineer Kenson Boston has since completed the washroom facilities.

The Mayor and City Council wishes to thank those stallholders concerned for their understanding and cooperation with the Council in its effort to protect life and limb and to relocate them to a safe area. Once again, the Council urges stallholders to comply with the notices served.
Regards
Debra Lewis
Public Relations Officer