Rehabilitation of Kitty Market to resume next week – officials

After months of delays

When Guyana Times visited the incomplete Kitty Market structure on Friday, persons were seen offloading materials from trucks. The City Hall officials present disclosed that construction is scheduled to resume during the next week.

Confirming that work has indeed been halted on the construction of the Kitty Market, City Hall representatives told this publication that materials have been bought and should be completely delivered in time to recommence the restoration within the new week.
“The material and so done order, we just have to wait for everything to come in and by next week, construction will start again,” one City Hall representative voiced.
Meanwhile, vendors who were relocated to facilitate the market’s construction complained that the extended period has hindered their daily income significantly. They added that they are still being forced to pay rent for their spots in the incomplete market structure as well as a daily “casual fee” for the spot they have been occupying temporarily.
“They aint telling we nothing about wa going on. All we hearing is that they don’t have money. They run out of funds. We still gotta pay we rent for the market spot and the spot out here. I pay $10,000 a month fuh me spot in the market, and pon a daily basis them does collect $200 to $300 during the week and $400 and $600 pon a weekends from we for this lil space we using fuh sell,” one vendor pointed out.
The rehabilitation of the Kitty Market began earlier this year, and the deadline at that time was announced to be before Guyana’s 50th Jubilee Anniversary on May 26. However, construction was halted and the structure was left incomplete for some time, under the refuted claims that the Mayor and City Council had become cash strapped and unable to pay contractors to complete the restoration.
During the latter part of the previous month, Guyana Times was informed by the City’s Engineer, Colvern Venture that the construction on the Kitty Market had already resumed but was delayed because of the rainy weather.
“The work is ongoing right now. It was stopped a little because of the rain and it was delayed because of the weather, but work is pressing on,” he had voiced.