By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

The head of the Potter’s Cay vendors association yesterday praised the progress in bringing electricity service to the destination, and added: “By September, the majority of the stalls will have electricity.”

Ormanique Bowe, president of the Potter’s Cay Dock Fish, Fruit and Vegetable Vendors Association, said work is set to commence in the evening on June 1 and she is awaiting more details at an upcoming meeting.

“The board had met about two weeks ago, all the technical persons, and they have already put in place mechanisms where they’re going to come out there on June 1 to start the work,” Ms Bowe said. “The work will commence during the evening time when stalls are closed. I guess that would be late night.

“They’ll come in and start putting down the spiders that lead to the individual stalls. They’re supposed to be having another meeting, and at that meeting, they’re going to include me to give me an update. And that should happen any time before the work starts or while it’s commencing.”

Ms Bowe said the infrastructure has been in place since 2016 and, to her understanding, electricians have been provided to vendors who have not yet gotten their stalls up to standard in preparation for the electrification process.

“They had asked the vendors to make sure that their electrical upgrades have been in place,” Ms Bowe said. “But what I’m understanding now, just to speed [the] process up, persons who have not yet done so, they have already assigned three electrical companies that they’re looking at who bid to help the vendors who have not yet upgraded.

“All the major infrastructure, that’s the transformer that’s at the northern end of Potter’s Cay, that has been in place from 2016 and all the lines have already been ran to the main basis from 2016.” With work seemingly on track, Ms Bowe said they may just meet the six months to a year promised to bring electricity to Potter’s Cay Dock.

“I am pleased with the process because minister [JoBeth Coleby-Davis] had promised us six months to a year, and it’s only been three months,” Ms Bowe said. “And so it has been progressing, and I feel that by September the majority of the stalls will have electricity if they continue moving the way they’re moving.

“By September, we’ll have infrastructure in. Persons who have not yet upgraded will be assisted by a public-private partnership (PPP) with the Ministry of Transport in getting their infrastructure in their stalls. And we should be up and going by September.”

Ms Bowe said her next step is to “continue advocating” to the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Agriculture for another restroom facility on Potter’s Cay Dock.

“I would continue advocating with the Ministry of Works and Agriculture to allow vendors to put restrooms inside their structures,” Ms Bowe said. “That can be done if we adapt the remaining sidewalk, and the sidewalk that was supposed to be completed is completed in front of the existing sidewalk.

“So if you go out there, you would see that the sidewalk that stops by McKenzie, which is the first stall, that is supposed to run straight along the front of the existing sidewalk. So if they can give us the existing sidewalk to do extensions, that would provide us to be able to put restrooms in the stalls.

“Or transport can allow them to go out, and they have been allowing persons to put additional decks at the back. The sewer plant is just west of Potter’s Cay, and the infrastructure would be easy for them to run that. Because the sewer plant is right there.”