Vendors decry state of Lucea market

Sharnon Williams, Gleaner Writer

LUCEA, Hanover:

VENDORS IN Lucea, Hanover, have decried the state of the market and said they would not be using the facility this Yuletide season.

"Tings already hard out yah suh. We naw go in deh suh," a fish vendor told The Gleaner.

Mayor of Lucea, Lloyd Hill, disclosed that the market has several problems and the council could not force the vendors to sell inside the building.

He told The Gleaner that the market was constructed too low (below sea level) and as a result, there is a drainage problem. As such, he noted that it was difficult to make any significant adjustments to the facility.

Hill said a new market was needed in the parish, adding that the Hanover Parish Council, the Urban Development Corporation and other organisations have been making plans to construct a new building.

The Lucea market is the main market facility in Hanover. When The Gleaner visited the facility recently, there were several empty stalls. The vendors were selling their produce at the entrance of the market.

"Nobody nah go in deh so," said a vendor who was at the entrance selling vegetables.

Hill said law and order could be maintained since the vendors were at the entrance of the market and were not encroaching on the road.