The municipal markets

On Monday some 40 Bourda Market stallholders marched down to City Hall furious over the fact that the market was not scheduled to open that day and they had not been informed in advance. That was not the only reason the vendors were incensed, it was, in fact, the last straw for them.

Unusually heavy rainfall on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, coupled with ineffective drainage in the city saw most of Georgetown severely flooded on Thursday and Friday. The whys and wherefores have already been dealt with in this column, but Bourda poses a different issue.

Bourda is one of the four major markets in the city, three of which are still functioning at a reasonable capacity. Travelling from south to north one would first encounter the La Penitence Market in the Albouystown/Charlestown area. Once a hub, servicing south Georgetown, this market’s busiest day now is on Sunday. The majority of the vendors come out onto Saffon Street on that day to sell to people passing through in vehicles. Few people venture into the actual market building which is usually darkish and dank.

The second major market is the Stabroek, once a go-to place for almost the proverbial ‘pin to elephant’ it has now become rundown. The back of the market which extends onto the Stabroek wharf is in such poor shape that it poses a serious hazard for those vendors who still bravely open their stalls every day, because they have no place else to vend. Several sections of the roof have already fallen off and the holes in the wharf floor have widened. Inside the market itself the hustle and bustle is significantly reduced. There are varied options for shoppers that are not hazardous and are cheaper, particularly the ubiquitous Chinese stores.

Bourda is the third and it is different from the others with its ‘green’ section extending to the north and with some vendors going beyond that to a section of the Merriman Mall, where they are allowed to vend three days a week. As with the others, myriad and various shopping opportunities around the city have put paid to Bourda’s former higher volume of traffic.

The fourth major market is the decrepit one at Kitty, which has long been on the hazard list of the Guyana Fire Service. A handful of vendors still chase elusive sales at that location at considerable risk to life and limb.

These markets have been neglected for a long time in terms of maintaining their structures. Apart from much needed repairs being conducted on the roof of the Bourda edifice, not much else has been done by the city, which has responsibility for all of the city’s markets. More recently, within the last ten years in fact, the maintenance of the markets in terms of aesthetics and a clean environment has been far less than desirable. Vendors and shoppers alike agree that on any given day the markets have a stench.

This is both disturbing and unfortunate, particularly for those whose livelihoods depend on the sales they make at their market stalls. What is even more worrying is the fact that managed properly, the markets can take care of themselves. In 2006, the revenue collected from the city’s markets was just over $180 million and the previous year it was $130 million. These sums are the proceeds of stall rentals. It had been reported in the past that Bourda Market with its ‘Bourda Green’ and Merriman Mall expansions accounts for more than half of the 5,000-odd vendors doing business in and around the municipal markets on a regular basis. Stall rentals range from around $2,000 a month on the ‘Bourda Green’ to around $3,000 to $5,000 inside the market itself. Rents are calculated per the sizes of stalls and the products being vended. Grocery stalls, for instance, pay $50 per sq ft, while those selling dry goods, like cloth and clothing, pay $75 per sq ft. Jewellery vendors, meanwhile, must dole our $90 per sq ft and in addition to rentals, vendors pay a cleaning fee.

Unfortunately, these monies go into the city’s coffers and are likely used to pay salaries, garbage removal contractors and for other things like acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba’s legal fees and new office chair as well as stipends for city councillors. Meantime, the markets remain at risk of break-ins by petty criminals and drug addicts as city constables apparently do not take their responsibility seriously or there are not enough of them.

Minister of Public Works Robeson Benn had stated earlier that the $500 million being used to clean up the city did not take market infrastructure or maintenance into account. Huge sums of money would be required to bring the city’s markets up to scratch, but it can be done. And while it would make sense to delink the markets from City Hall, as they might manage better autonomously, it would be unwise to privatize them as they could stand to lose their charming individuality if the new private owner decided that glass, steel and concrete were more viable options and that history could take second place.