Despite complaints from vendors about the slow pace of work at the Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara market, the contractor, Shanan Rahim is adamant that he will meet the August completion deadline.
Mohamed Rahim and Sons was awarded the $63 Million contract back in November 2021 but didn’t commence work until after constructing a temporary place for the vendors to ply their trade.
When the News Room visited the construction site, there was no construction ongoing and vendors were not happy.
Camille, a vendor at the back of the tarmac said, “firstly, the smell…it’s not nice. Number two, the pack-in, pack-out. It’s very hard…it’s so much discomfort. I does got to pay to take it [the items] in [and] pay to take it out. Plus we got to pay here to sell.”
She also complained that sales are low because customers aren’t as eager to shop in these conditions.
Another vendor said that the rainfall affects persons who don’t have a stall to occupy.
“We lil comfortable but not so perfect because we glad for the market finish. But we getting a lot of flies. We give complaints but we ain’t getting no kind of response.
“When people come in the market, them saying the market smell [bad].”
Vendors also complained about the garbage situation.
Meanwhile, during an interview with the News Room at the construction site on Wednesday, Rahim explained that works commenced in February and is expected to end seven months after the commencement date.
“Yeah we can [complete in time]. [It] all depends on the availability of material,” Rahim said, noting that there is a severe shortage.
Nonetheless, the contractor is confident he will complete the work, noting that he is actually ahead of schedule.
He, however, explained that he did face some challenges, including fixing the drainage and the high cost of materials.
