THE once buzzing La Penitence Market sees a mere handful of stalls opening daily, and one vendor opined that the reason could be the leaking roof that poses an inconvenience to the vendors and result in damage to their goods.

The grocery vendor, who wished to remain anonymous, has been operating in the market for the past 11 years. “And for so long the market has been leaking. People stop coming to the market,” he said.

“They need to install gutters around the entire market and lead all of the water to the Sussex Street canal. Otherwise, the water will full up all of the small drains around the market,” the vendor advised.

The market is now a weekend market, and according to the vendor, many persons are robbed every Sunday. “They need policemen to be on the road. Every Sunday people get robbed out there. Business used to do a lot in this market, but not anymore,” he said.
Another vendor, Clement Decambra, who has been operating in the market for the past 31 years, told this publication that his problem is that the market staff would clean whenever they feel like. This causes him to have to clean some of the gutters on his own.

Decambra said another unfair situation is that the La Penitence Market vendors would have to depend on Sundays to do business at the market, but that is the day when vendors from all parts of the country would turn up to sell there also. “It’s more than unfair because we still have to pay the rent for the stalls,” he said.

Meanwhile, just recently, Constituency Councillors, David Allicock and Heston Bostwick, paid a visit to the market, along with Assistant Engineer, Rasheed Kellman; Public Relations Officer, Debra Lewis and other City Hall officers.

Allicock told reporters that phase one of the repair works, which is soon to be completed, include rehabilitation to the revenue collection office, the constabulary outpost, and the sanitary block. Phase two, he informed, would take in the sheeting of the entire market roof.

“The entire roof has expired; it’s old and if anyone tries to walk on it, they would sink right through to the bottom, so we have to deal with the entire roof,” Allicock said.
Councillor Bostwick noted that the phase one works are being done to the tune of almost $9M with the assistance from the Ministry of Communities.

He said the roof will have to be done sometime in 2020 and that the project will be given priority, even if it means that help will have to be sought from other agencies. “When the rain falls, most of the vendors are being affected, along with their goods being damaged. We recognise this and are urging their patience that in 2020 we will fix these problems.”

So far as security is concerned, Bostwick said he has already called for a security plan to be provided by the Chief Constable. At the moment, he said he doesn’t know how many constables are attached to the market and are patrolling it daily.

While the City Council wants the vendors to occupy the inside of the market, Bostwick called attention to the issue of vendors opting to sell outside instead. “Most of the stallholders are desirous of going against the will of the council. Most vendors want to operate outside of the market and that is not acceptable. If you look along Sussex Street, you will recognise there are stalls not permitted to be there and they are there trying to believe that they can force the council against its will. When the relevant department takes the necessary action, we hope no one will complain that we’re wrong,” Bostwick expressed.