Several vendors reluctant to relocate from dilapidated structure

Stabroek Market Wharf

Georgetown Mayor, Ubraj Narine plans to meet with vendors who are still plying their trade on the dilapidated Stabroek Market Wharf.
He told this newspaper on Saturday afternoon that he will listen to the concerns of the vendors but added that a motion was already passed to have them removed by this month-end.
“We will have a meeting again this week with them to see what are their complaints again. We are trying to meet with them in all their turns and twists. We indeed moved a motion but yet the people are still occupying there and that wharf only recently a piece fell into the Demerara River and that thing can collapse at any time,” Narine said.
Due to the deplorable state in which the structure remains, the Mayor has again appealed for those persons to vacate the area. He said notices were recently issued in this regard and the meeting scheduled will allow for the vendors to explain what is preventing them from occupying Russel Square, the former Route 42 minibus park.
The former bus park was transformed into a vending area to allow the vendors to earn their livelihood while the wharf is being rehabilitated. But although several stalls were built, some vendors relocated to the area while others are reluctant to do so.
The initial plan was to have those vendors removed from the Stabroek Market Wharf by this month-end. In fact, plans were announced to have City Constables placed around the area to ensure it remains vacant.
During a recent visit to the wharf by this publication, persons were selling off their plantains, vegetables, salted fish and peanuts among other articles below a roof that looked as though it would collapse at any time.
In fact, several zinc sheets had already blown off by heavy winds, leaving behind the mere frames.
Along with the horrific roofing, several boards were missing from the structure’s floor. The remaining woodwork was rotted and covered in garbage at a number of different sections.
To make matters worse at the already crumbling structure, the wharf was partially blazed in November. It is suspected that the fire may have been started by a female, who had an argument with another vendor.