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Council will not accept liability for persons who endanger themselves at hazardous Stabroek wharf – City Engineer
The shacks now present on the dangerously dilapidated Stabroek Wharf.
By Rehanna Ramsay
Kaieteur News – In wake of reports that persons have taken up residence within the increasingly dilapidated and hazardous Stabroek Market Wharf, Georgetown Council City Engineer, Colvern Venture is warning that the municipality will not accept liability for persons who put themselves in danger.
“We have warned people not to go there and even cordoned off the area. So, to hear that people are still going there is a surprise to me,” Venture said of the news that two shacks have been constructed at the now abandoned wharf.
The wharf which once housed the operations of more than 80 Stabroek Market stallholders was slated to be torn down and rebuilt. Owing to the dangers the deteriorating structure posed to stallholders and consumers alike, they were relocated to a nearby minibus park. The area was then cordoned off as a danger zone or construction site.
However, recently there have been complaints that shacks, seemingly built for residential purposes, have been fitted with electric wires, lighting bulbs and other fixtures including laundry lines were constructed on the wharf.
City Engineer Colvern Venture
Kaieteur News understands that on any given day, occupants of the shacks can be seen operating within the danger zone. Venture said that since the issue has been brought to his attention, the city constabulary will have to take action.
“I will be bringing this to the attention of the city constable to have those shacks removed. No one is supposed to be there,” he stated, noting that Council is still to decide on the way forward with the wharf.
The city official noted that the council signed on to a document from the Ministry of Public Works for the rehabilitation of the wharf, but the work will take some consideration between the two agencies.
As such, Venture noted that consultations are still ongoing for the construction of the new wharf. In the meantime, City Mayor Ubraj Narine expressed similar concern. He noted, that wharf remains a hazard for water taxi operators and those who traverse the area on a daily basis.
The Mayor emphasized that Council will not accept any liability for any loss, damage, injury, death to anyone defying the warning to vacate the deteriorating structure. The Mayor noted too, that the Ministry of Public Works must have an input on the Council’s move forward with the demolition and ultimate rehabilitation of the wharf.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, the Public Works Ministry announced that works to restore the Stabroek Market Wharf will take place within three years. The project was slated to be part of a waterfront development initiative funded by the Caribbean Development Bank, (CDC) which allocated $80 million for the preliminary works
According to the Ministry, $67.1 M has already been spent on upgrades to the Vreed-en-Hoop and Stabroek ferry stellings while climate design work and feasibility studies for the new stellings have been completed under the expenditure. The Public Works Ministry had previously endorsed the plan to transform the wharf into a commercial waterfront facility.
The Ministry had signed off on a document for the waterfront development, a modernised facility that can benefit those who ply their trade and also serve as a major tourist attraction. However, the project which was catered for under the £53.2M grant the government obtained from the UK-Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund (UKCIF) to improve or create new infrastructure to drive economic growth and development, never got off the ground.
The new waterfront facility was supposed to accommodate the vendors who had been removed from the facility and relocated. The Georgetown M&CC had noted that until the wharf could be repaired, the vendors from that area will remain at the Route 42 minibus park square.
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