M&CC dismantle unregulated stalls in Stabroek Market area

– vendors were given prior notice to remove

Unauthorised stalls within the perimeter of the Stabroek Market area were on Wednesday destroyed and removed by the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown (M&CC), after vendors failed to comply with a notice issued about a week ago to have the fixed structures removed in order to facilitate a cleanup exercise.

Guyana Times understands that the street vendors were advised to utilise temporary stalls, such as carts affixed with wheels that are easily movable, but many operators had already established fixed structures.
On site during this exercise was Town Clerk (ag) Candace Nelson, who explained that the vendors were asked to remove just for a day to accommodate a clean-up exercise around the area, but they did not comply.
“It is a one-day exercise for now, where we will be cleaning the Stabroek Market and its surrounding environs. We will be removing garbage, cleaning the drains… we have the Ministry of Public Works will be coming in to assist in marking the road…”, she said.
She added that the exercise will be extended from the central Stabroek area to Water Street and other environs.
It was only last week that the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, called on the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) to address the issue of street vending throughout the city, or central Government would intervene. He reminded that encumbering public reserves, inclusive of road shoulders, embankments, pedestrian walkways, Government reserves and State reserves, is a criminal offence.

Nandlall had also highlighted that street vending not only hinders traffic and business operations, but produces garbage, which has become a monumental problem.
“So, while the Government is expending a tremendous amount of time and resources in trying to clean the city and its environs, a venture that the City Council has publicly refused to join hands on, they exacerbate the problem by licensing to create these public nuisances. We simply cannot continue in this way,” Nandlall contended.
Only in December, the Shamdas Kirpalani store secured from the High Court an order which instructed the Town Clerk to prohibit pavement vending in front of the business’s Lot 107 Regent Street, Lacytown, Georgetown location.
Then in February 2022, Demerara High Court Justice Jo-Ann Barlow ordered the City Engineer to take all necessary steps to remove all encumbrances from in front of the Collections Boutique and Gift Centre at Lot 27 Water Street, Georgetown.