-Deputy City Engineer

AFTER starting repair works to the Kitty Market three years ago, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) is reporting that phase one of the project funded by the Ministry of Communities, is now 90 percent completed.

On a site visit to the market a few days ago, Deputy City Engineer (Ag) Rasheed Kellman told reporters that phase one of the work will be completed at a cost of $17M, and will include finishing off the ground floor stalls, the ceiling, walls, flooring, staircase, and two exits.
According to him, a total of 38 stalls will be accommodated on the ground floor to be occupied by clothes, vegetable, grocery and haberdashery vendors.
Clerk of Markets Sherlock Lovell told Guyana Chronicle that a total of 101 stalls will be in the market upon completion, with about 120 tenants (stallholders), and 15 itinerant vendors. The number of stalls that could be accommodated declined after repair works. Prior to repairs, there were about 176 stalls.

Chairman of the Markets and Public Health Committee Trichria Richards told reporters that in 2016, the City Council embarked upon a major project to repair the market because of the deplorable state that it had been in for years.
She said the Ministry of Communities has again stepped in to assist with the completion of phase one. “The second phase will be dealing with the cold storage area; a modern cold storage area where butchers and persons dealing with meat can be in a comfortable area to ply their trade,” Richards informed. The modernised market will also feature generators so that a constant supply of electricity will be available.

Meanwhile, the Communities Ministry has invited expressions of interest for Phase Two of the works at Kitty, along with the rehabilitation and reconstruction of other markets around the City, including the Bourda and Albouystown markets.
Tender notices have been issued for bids on phase two of the project, while works are expected to begin shortly. The works will be financed as part of the $300M allocated in the 2019 national budget for the Georgetown Restoration Programme. According to reports, the second phase of the project should cost around $40M.
The first phase of construction works on the Kitty Market saw the completion of 18 stalls with shutters, sanitary blocks and the administrative office, inclusive of a revenue collection section.

In addition to the stalls, the building is already designed to include the Public Health Department, Clerk of Market Office, and a concert/conference hall which is expected to serve as a rental facility for community events.
The City Council intends to equip the market with solar energy to power the electricity needs of the vendors, with the central air-conditioning being powered by the Guyana Power and Light (GPL). The move to upgrade the Kitty and other markets is in keeping with the ministry’s agenda to improve the capacity of the Town Council to manage its assets in an effort to improve its revenue streams.

The ministry has been working along with the City Council to ensure the market is complete and is constructed both to preserve its architectural integrity as well as to add a modern touch. A decentralisation of Council’s work is expected when the market comes back on board as it will take into account the needs of communities between Cummings Lodge and Kitty so that residents living in those communities will not have to travel all the way to Georgetown to pay their taxes. The Kitty Market was established in 1882, two years after the Bourda Market had come into being. Like the Bourda Market, Kitty Market is timber-framed. The 19th century structure had suffered massive deterioration over the years prior to its renovation, causing vendors operating in its environs to lodge numerous complaints with the City Council.