With the Potter’s Cay dock presently the subject of an environmental assessment, vendors are expressing concerns over the ultimate disposition of the popular seafood and produce open-air market.
Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Ron Pinder, told the Guardian in a brief telephone interview Tuesday afternoon that meetings have taken place with respect to giving the area a facelift.
He said that a group known as the Potter’s Cay Development and Enhancement Committee is presently assessing conditions at the dock.
Parties involved include representatives of the Department of Environmental Health, the Water and Sewerage Corporation, Ministries of Works, Agriculture and Fisheries, Tourism, the Port Authority, the Royal Bahamas Police Force, and Kerzner International, who own the Paradise Atlantis Resort and other properties.
“They will formulate some solutions to remedy the conditions that they may find,” Mr. Pinder said, and submit a comprehensive environmental report to be passed on to the Cabinet.
At that point, he advised, “Cabinet will have to decide whether or not they will accept the recommendations in the report,” which will “encompass everything from the size of the stalls out there, to running water, to the possibility of infrastructure being put in place for electricity, as well as proper drainage and sewage facilities.”
Mr. Pinder said that an initial meeting took place on April 24, and on May 2, an initial site inspection was carried out, followed by two or three other meetings since then.
The report and recommendations will be made public, Mr. Pinder said.
Despite this assurance, however, the concerns of the vendors appear to remain unassuaged.
One of them, Ishmael Francis, said: “I really don’t know what to say. It’s just a lot of things up in the air, things from way back when.
“First they were saying that they were going to clean up out here, and we did not have to move. But now they telling us we got to move. It’s too much things up in the air, so it is hard to tell what is concrete and what is not,” he said.
Moreover, he said, there was also talk of providing electricity at the dock, but nothing has happened. At this point most vendors get electricity from generators that they have purchased, he said.
With regard to relocation for a possible face-lift, Winston Beckles, a fisherman for 24 years, said that he was opposed to the idea. “Potter’s Cay dock has now become bigger than the vendors, it has become some place where people like to recreate. We ought to take that into consideration,” he said.
“This is a cultural thing out here, you’ve got the mail boat, crabs, dry conch; you’ve got everything in the market place. It’s a people’s thing and they come here to shop, have a conch salad and just enjoy themselves,” he said.
However, he stressed the need for better bathroom facilities on the dock and, also, “We would like to have some electricity around here that would assist in keeping the area more sanitary.
“It also needs to be guarded,” he said to prevent persons from throwing shells in the water, which is against the law.
“Other than that,” Mr. Beckles said, “Potter’s Cay is just fine.”
By Jimenita Swain, The Nassau Guardian
