One hundred and nine vendors who will be relocated from the La Grange/Bagotsville area participated in a lottery exercise on Saturday to determine their new vending spots.
The Ministry of Public Works organised the activity to relocate vendors from the roadway to a more organised, safer environment.
Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, explained that the vendors who traditionally gather along the roadside on Sundays to sell produce and other goods will now have a safer location to conduct business.
“We have a space set so that the people on the roadway could sell on Sunday. When they finish selling on Sunday, they will collapse their tables and their stalls, and we will continue to work to improve the tarmac to a more all-weather surface,” he stated.
The minister noted that the previous area was not a designated market, and several stalls had extended onto the carriageway, creating safety concerns for both vendors and motorists.
Following consultations with the vendors last week, the ministry identified two areas where vending could be accommodated, including a street leading to the La Grange Police Station and an additional space along the southern side of the Number One Canal.
The ministry’s technical team also conducted a walkthrough of the area during the busy Sunday vending period to document and photograph vendors operating there. The exercise identified 109 vendors, who were subsequently invited to identify their assigned spaces.
In an interview with the Department of Public Information, vendor Jessica King highlighted that she has been a vendor for over 12 years, and her mother has been a vendor for almost 30 years.
She expressed her gratitude to the minister for personally seeing that the vendors were relocated with a free and fair system.
“I’m happy with the number that I pulled, since I will be at the front part.. I’m glad that he came out so that we can get more space on the road,” she said.
The initiative forms part of the government’s ongoing efforts to organise vending activities while infrastructure work progresses, ensuring that vendors can continue earning a livelihood in a structured environment.