Charity Marketing Centre on verge of collapse into Pomeroon River

Aug 25, 2017 News

By Romario Blair

Vendors operating at the Charity Marketing Centre are now in fear as the 38-year-old structure is on the verge of collapsing into the Pomeroon River.

The sinking concrete structure as compared to the wooden section has dropped about three feet.

The facility, which is being supported by wooden piles, is in visibly bad shape, as it has sunken at least three feet. At present the structure is being supported by piles that have deteriorated extensively. The majority of the other piles no longer provide such support due to their complete deterioration. The sinking area poses a threat to the safety of vendors and other persons residing in the centre.
This publication had the opportunity to speak with several persons vending and shopping at the location and they admitted to being quite tense.
“I’m selling here on a daily basis, and I always gotta be fearful. I think that one day this thing will collapse and we gon drown with it. We come out here to offload our produce, but at the same time we gotta be extra cautious, because from how things looking, this marketing centre could collapse,” said one vendor
“I think it’s sad that the authorities would wait until the situation gets to this point before they do anything, these people need to regularly check up on these structures,” a shopper opined.
Those were just some of the comments from persons using the facility.
The Charity Urasara Neighborhood Democratic Council (NDC) has appealed to the Regional Executive Officer to pay keen attention to the rapid sinking of the Northern and Southern side of the Marketing Centre, in an effort to avoid “a catastrophic occurrence”. The NDC believes that if urgent emphasis is placed on the severity of the situation, the marketing centre could be saved from collapsing into the Pomeroon River.
In order to slow the pace of sinking, the NDC has advised, and reinforced its will to keep all vehicles from traversing the immediate area. This comes as an additional setback to commercial activities as persons would need to drive their lorries onto the structure, in order to receive produce from the boats of local farmers.