Minister of Transport and Works, Michael Lashley.
The next phase of the work on the Constitution River Terminal Re-Development Project is expected to start early in the New Year.
According to Minister of Transport and Works, Michael Lashley, that construction work is expected to start in January and is needed to address a number of concerns raised in a report done on the area by the Ministries of Health and Environment.
He told the Lower House yesterday morning that the report lamented that the conditions in the van stand “can only be described as deplorable, and in need of immediate remedy, as each day it is left unattended, the risk to the public health is intensified”. Moreover, he said the report noted that the risk of food, vector and water borne diseases outbreaks, as well as the offensive odours emanating in the area made it “horrendous from a public health perspective.”
“There are 121 vending operations at the River Terminal, indeed we have 67 of the 121 vending operations selling food either ready to eat or uncooked… and if we are speaking about ‘greening’ and if we are speaking about greening particularly the urban corridor, we cannot turn a blind eye to the River Terminal,” he maintained.
He added, “In fact the report in a nutshell is saying that the entire area needs to be redesigned to ensure that the public’s health and safety is taken into consideration.
This report was prepared by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Health, and those findings revealed inadequacy of space, lack of running water and the provision for waste water disposal, absence of toilet facilities for food handlers, and insufficiency of garbage receptacles. The comment was made this was found to be very unacceptable due to insufficiency of garbage cans and poor disposal of garbage by both food handlers and the travelling public.”
The Transport and Works Minister said this is why over 120 vendors who operate in the area were given notice recently. Also, he said that during the coming weeks they intend to have more conversations with the vendors to ensure that the reason for the move is fully understood. As such, he said the redeveloped area will feature the best practices in terms of food safety, and have the best sanitary conditions for the travelling public, vendors and workers in the area.
“My report tells me that in January 2013 we had discussions with BARVEN; we had discussions with the vendors out there notifying them that at some point in time they would have to move.
We are not taking a hard and fast approach because the 127 vendors out there, they have families to feed, but at the end of the day we have to ensure that the conditions fit into good public health standards,” he added.
With that in mind, he indicated that in the interim his Ministry will ask the Ministry of Environment and the Sanitation Service Authority to place the necessary receptacles in the terminal area to collect the garbage. (JRT)
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