The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A spokesperson for Potter’s Cay vendors has called for reconstruction to move forward more than a year after a fire destroyed stalls at the site.

Potter’s Cay Dock Fish, Fruit, and Vegetable Vendors Association president Ormanique Bowe said the Ministry of Works is the current roadblock and thinks officials need to “push it forward now”.

In May, Agriculture, Marine Resources and Family Island Affairs Minister Clay Sweeting said vendors were provided with letters to access supplies needed for construction.

Ms Bowe said vendors have had the letters for funding for about three months now.

“Well actually my last meeting with the minister and the PS everybody has already had the okay, letters to get their materials from FYP. We’re only waiting on final approvals and the Ministry of Works to come out and mark,” she said.

“And we’ve been waiting for that now for the past two months. So it’s just approvals from the Ministry of Works to come out now and mark the spots for the vendors to start, but as far as their funding the letters for funding have already been in their hands for like three months now.”

In April, she said vendors were still waiting for the government to authorise the repair work to fire damaged stalls.

As for how vendors feel about the wait, she said they are “agitate.”

“Christmas is coming, school is opening, they need to make money. I don’t know what is going to happen. The Ministry of Works is the hold up now and I think they need to push it forward now.”

The fire back in April 2021 left six stalls completely burned to the ground and two others with damage. Two boats were also destroyed.

Meanwhile, Ms Bowe said the vendors are also grappling with inflation.

“Vendors are spending more than $60 per day just on gas. So when you do the calculation, they’re spending like $1,400 per month – that’s gas. We don’t have electricity, so they have to buy at least four to five bags of ice per day which is now $10 or $11 per day,” she said.

“So when you calculate that, just on gas (for generators), we’re talking about over $2,000 we’re spending a month that’s just on gas. That’s not even your supplies to sell.

“I’m not open now because of the same thing – the opening and closing of the pandemic. I said you know something I’m not going to open until we have a balance, but I can imagine talking to them, what they’re spending now and it’s rough.”

She noted vendors have had to increase the prices on their menu, estimating there has been a 10 percent rise.

She spoke of the challenges while addressing the media about the rebuilding project for the site.

She added that they are seeking investors for a private-public partnership, but have not approached the government yet.

“Like I said we’re in the infancy stages of it. Right now, what we’re doing is just planning and putting ideas together, sharing each other’s dreams and visions of what Potter’s Cay should look like in the future,” she said.

“And that is why we have this meeting today with the vendors, some of the vendors to see what they’re thinking, what their ideas are so when (we) go to (the) drawing board now it would be a cooperative.”

On board was Marina Bland, a co-founder of a non-profit called The Global Resiliency Project whose mission is to solve all human challenges.

“My mother asked me to come back to The Bahamas to be a blessing to this country, but she didn’t realize that my life was a little bit bigger than that. I’m trying to do what we’re doing here in The Bahamas and do it in the entire world,” she said.

“I have connections everywhere, all over the world of people who are very interested in being a blessing to The Bahamas.

“We’ve done work already in Ragged Island. There’s no secrets. They’ve seen the work started and the plans that we’ve made for Ragged Island. We hope to replicate that same idea with this Potter’s Cay idea.”