Fresh guard in City market

Vendors currently stationed at Fairchild Street in The City and surrounding areas will be given priority when a spanking new Fairchild Street Market Village opens in November, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Indar Weir has promised.

He however warned that those desirous of occupying the spaces will be bound by new contracts with new obligations that differ significantly from the outdated agreements which vendors previously signed. The changes will also include a thorough examination of the existing rent structure.

During a site visit on Monday that included officials from the ministry’s Markets Division, the Barbados Association of Retailers, Vendors, and Entrepreneurs (BARVEN), and the Urban Development Commission (UDC), Weir stressed that the contractual changes will “not necessarily” mean an increase in rent, but they will include new standards for vendors consistent with the makings of a “modern” market.

“This government is not here to disenfranchise small people or vendors. Actually, we are here to empower them, so the idea of rent will have to be thoroughly examined at the ministry and the market division to make sure nobody is disadvantaged,” assured Weir.

“But equally, if we are going to bring it into a modern environment, then the rent must represent what the entire market is going to look like. And that does not necessarily mean a rent increase. It may mean a change in the way we did business in the past.

“…New protocols will be in place in terms of how we dispose of garbage, in terms of how food and all of the inputs are delivered here, so our deliveries will have to also carry a certain protocol. We will have to manage the facility with good security, good sanitary conditions. All of those things that have been obtained in the past will have to be reviewed and modernized,” the minister further revealed.

Weir said that Monday’s walkthrough followed a previous site visit when he was unhappy with the progress of work being done at Fairchild Street.

Responding to questions about who might benefit from the market spaces and suggestions that longtime vendors in the area might be snubbed, the minister said: “I came here to see for myself that no one would be disadvantaged and that everyone who was involved, who has a title or a contract or an agreement with the markets division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security will be accommodated in this project.

“So for those who were asking, and for all the many questions that came to me prior to my coming here, I am satisfied now that we are doing the right thing and that equally, those people who were displaced when this project started and those people from Golden Square can rest assured that you will be accommodated to continue your food vending here in this phase one and in phase two, where the additional seven kiosks will be constructed,” he added.

The first phase will provide housing for small restaurants while the second, which commences in the coming days, will make way for sellers of fresh produce who currently sell on the side of Fairchild Street. According to the agriculture minister, the space also ought to accommodate creatives selling works of art along with local entertainers.

He has also promised that the same courtesy in the form of dislocation grants given to those affected by phase one of the project would be extended to vendors impacted by phases two and three. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb