Government officials on Saturday visited Merriman’s Mall, La Penitence Market and the Toolsie Persaud site at Water Street to determine what improvements can be made to these vending sites. According to a press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA), a team including Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Kellawan Lall, Minister of Public Works and Hydraulics Robeson Benn and officials from the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) visited the locations to determine how enhancements can be made to the markets’ environment, stalls, waste disposal and general cleanliness.

Lall proposed that a mechanism be put in place to enable the vendors to relate to the M&CC on issues such as enforcing by-laws and regulations, which would assist with the managing of the vending operations. The team also said it was dissatisfied with the low rate of occupancy of the Toolsie Persaud site and observed that it was being used mostly as a storage facility. Government acquired the site from the business entity in 2003 and the area was paved, a sanitary block constructed and fences erected to accommodate vendors who were relocated from other areas of the city. GINA said the M&CC will devise a plan to further upgrade the area to ensure its maximum utilisation and to install other vendors there. Meanwhile, roadways and drains have been cleared; garbage collected and disposed; six avenues have been raised; a car park was built in East Street; road verges shaped; trees have been manicured and planted under the enhancement programme, the release said. GINA also said the cleaning and clearing of Le Repentir cemetery was contracted to Maurice Glasgow at a cost of $4.8 million and it is expected to be completed in 21 days; the M&CC will undertake the cleaning of the drains near to the cemetery.