NA municipality to upgrade wharf to assist riverine communities

The New Amsterdam municipality is set to upgrade its wharf facility to accommodate persons from riverine communities who visit the town to trade.
This is according to Mayor Wainwright McIntosh, who has also arranged to meet with aggrieved market vendors to address some of their concerns.
The New Amsterdam Market falls under the ambit on the municipality, but many vendors have raised concerns over illegal vending, which they say in negatively impacting their businesses.
They argue that shoppers are reluctant to go into the market when there are persons vending the same commodities on the pavement outside of the market.
Mayor McIntosh visited the market on Wednesday and was able to meet with several vendors. One vendor, Bishranauth Alvin, who has been vending in the New Amsterdam Market for more than 40 years, said, “You can’t be complaining all the time. When you only make $10 you are crying out, but if you make $15,000 you are not telling nobody.”

Some market vendors say the council has allowed supermarkets to operate in close proximity to the market, which is in contravention of the bylaws governing the town. There are three supermarkets in the vicinity: one is next door to the municipal market, another is three buildings away, and the third is obliquely opposite the market.
Following his walkabout on Wednesday, the mayor said he would like to meet all of the vendors at one time, and he has arranged to meet with them next Wednesday.
“Because most vendors would have closed their stalls on Wednesday, I would have decided to engage persons vending in the market for a general meeting which is scheduled for next Wednesday. In that meeting, we will be listening to the issues and concerns of residents, and we will be exploring an amicable solution or alternative solutions to those issues and concerns raised. We endeavour to raise the standards of the New Amsterdam Municipal Market to ensure that vendors are comfortable,” Mayor McIntosh has said.
Among those raising concerns with the mayor were vendors in the fisheries section of the market, who requested that the transparent zinc sheets be replaced. The mayor assured that, before the end of this month, at least two sheets would be replaced.
Poor sanitation in that section was also raised with the mayor, and it was contended that some fish vendors have knowingly been discarding their waste in an irresponsible manner.
“Persons that are in breach are to be fined for such callous acts being perpetrated by them. Outside the fisheries, persons would have shared their concerns about roadside vending. That is an issue in which the Municipality would be carrying out a campaign in the not-so-distant future,” the mayor has said.
He said the economics behind roadside vending and the need for persons to ply their trade is fully understood by officials of the municipality. “We will endeavour to have vending done in an organised manner, and we will be consulting with vendors for us to explore possibilities of working together and to come up with solutions to these challenges that we are being faced with.”
After the walkabout in the market, the mayor visited the municipal wharf. Residents of Canje and Berbice riverine communities use the New Amsterdam Municipal Wharf to get their produce to the market, and also as a facility to take goods onto their boats. Currently, when the tide is low, they are challenged to use the facility. On many occasions persons would have to remain in their boats at the wharf for hours, until the water rises, before they can exit.
Wain Fraser, who lives at Waruni in the Berbice River and operates a boat service, explained that there is need for a platform to facilitate persons and goods on and off vessels when the tide is low.
“They need to build a platform, and plant some piles so that you can be guided to know that something is there under the water when the tide is high,” the boat captain has opined. Millions of dollars in supplies are shipped on a weekly basis from the Municipal Wharf in New Amsterdam to villages along the Upper Berbice River.
McIntosh, in agreeing that the current wharf facility should be upgraded, has said efforts would be made to minimise the challenges being faced by persons from riverine communities who do business with the town. (G4)