Stabroek Market wharf vendors have started signing agreements with City Hall to pave the way for the construction of their stalls at Russell Square, where they are to be relocated.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the vendors and the Mayor and City Council outlines the manner in which they will occupy and operate at the location.
Acting Town Clerk Sharon Harry-Munroe told this newspaper that construction of the stalls is expected to commence immediately and noted that all stalls are expected to be completed within the next six weeks.
She noted that while the construction of the stalls will be done by the vendors, they will be supervised by “personnel from the City Engineers’ Department to ensure that stalls are constructed [to] specification, in keeping with the MoU approved by council.”
Vendors who signed the MoU on Friday were elated, as they have been waiting for weeks to be relocated. The vendors had complained of the council’s laid-back approach in preparing the documents for them to sign.
In September, Town Clerk Royston King led a team to cordon off the collapsing wharf. Vendors had been required to cease operations on September 14, after a cease and desist notice was served due to the perilous state of the wharf.
Stabroek News had reported that councilors agreed that in addition to the vendors being permitted to build their stalls to the specifications given by the Engineer’s Department, they would be granted a waiver on rental fees for a period of six weeks after construction.
The council has also agreed to erect lights and install sanitary facilities at the site.
The stalls are expected to be 13 feet in height, 10 feet in length and 8 feet in width. A rough estimate provided by City Engineer, Colvern Venture, pegged the cost to construct the stalls at $400,000.
The Mayor and City Council are currently constructing the sanitary blocks for the vendors and will soon carry out additional infrastructural works, Harry-Munroe disclosed.
