The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources intends to allocate more than $2m during the next fiscal cycle to cover aspects of the multi-million dollar Potter’s Cay Dock redevelopment project, according to Agriculture Minister V Alfred Gray.

The MICAL MP made the statement during a media tour of the temporary fruit and vegetable vendor station built to house the eight vendors displaced as a result of repairs currently being carried out on the eastern Paradise Island Bridge.

Earlier this week, Ministry of Agriculture officials, in conjunction with personnel from the Ministry of Works, constructed the temporary space near the western end of the area and demolished the 15 stalls which were being used by the vendors at the centre of the dock’s main causeway.

Only eight of the 15 stalls were presently in use.

Mr Gray termed the government’s undertaking at the site “a necessary effort” for transforming the area into one of the island’s leading social hubs.

He stressed that for far too long, the Potter’s Cay area had been left to ruin and as a result, he said, the site lost its charm and lustre.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources has proposed a price point between $2m and $2.5m to reformat and reconstruct the nearly 75 stalls currently in operation at Potter’s Cay.

Last month, nearly 30 vendors protested against move, many citing their displeasure with the way the ministry had handled the matter.

In a statement sent to The Tribune at the time, members said they were being forced to evacuate the site where many of them had worked for decades.

The group said that ministry officials were uprooting scores of vendors without presenting compensatory arrangements, an issue that the vendors’ association said would push some 71 vendors into unemployment.

That protest prompted a series of meetings between the agriculture officials and members of the disgruntled association.

At the conclusion of those talks, both sides agreed to work together on the redevelopment effort and reconstruction plans were discussed.

Vendors pushed for the more festive, upscale stall option – a design style that would call for the construction of patio decks, which would extend over the water at the rear of each stall.

Design features also incorporate modern plumbing and electricity capabilities.

There are approximately 45 marine stalls operating at Potter’s Cay – roughly 28 of which are restaurants.

Additionally, there are 21 fish and conch tables, and eight produce stalls.

“What you see today, six months from now it will be transformed. The Minister of Transport (Glenys Hanna Martin) and her team, the Ministry of Works and their team, we are working in tandem to redevelop this Potter’s Cay Dock area,” said Mr Gray.

Last November, the three-phased redevelopment plan was announced as a joint effort between the Ministries of Works, Agriculture and Transport and Aviation.

Presently, efforts attached to the initial phases of the Ministry of Transport and Aviation’s Potter’s Cay Dock Redevelopment Project are underway.

Those two phases call for the removal and relocation of trees on the southern foreshore to create a parking area, which would extend eastward to Williams Street, the extension of the Fish and Farm store by 150 feet to accommodate mail boat services and a new bathroom area with a security presence as a part of phase one.

Phase two is projected to include the construction of security checkpoints at the entrance and exit of the entire facility, kerbs erected around the perimeter of the dock as a safety measure to prevent potential accidents.

The phases are being carried out simultaneously and are expected to be completed in May.

Meanwhile, the first part of the Ministry of Agriculture’s efforts are expected to commence in July and projected to span three months.

The budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources’ project is expected to be given during the Christie administration’s budget communication later this year.