A transport hub and a new vendors' mall - these are the plans for the piece of land which runs parallel to Centre City Mall, according to the Chaguanas Mayor. However vendors protested against the move today and told TV6, they are in possession of a document which shows otherwise. Rynessa Cutting reports.
00:00There's no running water, there's no electricity, and food is being sold at that compound.
00:04There's a pile of garbage, maybe the height of this building, to the back of that compound.
00:09There's no washroom facilities, and you have people selling food on this compound.
00:13What we are trying to do, development is coming.
00:16I'm not going to stop that development is coming.
00:19Shogwanis Mayor Faik Mohamed says he has great plans to better his burgesses' lives.
00:25But first, the current site of the vendors' mall must be cleared.
00:30Three-up taxi stands on the side of the highway.
00:32You have no port of Spain and San Fernando taxi stands, basically, on the southern main road,
00:36or three-lane road, and restricts it to one lane, because the two taxi stands, basically, is on one roadway.
00:41We have a traffic issue.
00:43So my intention is the area is large enough to create a sort of hub where we can put our taxis and our maxis as well,
00:52as well as our vending.
00:54And that is my long-term intention for that area.
00:57The mayor tells TV6 News.
00:59The plans have been years in the making, with the borough winning two cases against the vendors who currently occupy the land.
01:07The vendors do not pay fees.
01:10What we are doing with the vendors, we are going to relocate them to the market.
01:15They are going to get six months free rent, right?
01:18And when we develop the area, they will be the first on their priority listing to go back there.
01:23However, the vendors are telling a different story.
01:27They showed TV6 a private developer's proposal for the land.
01:31Now they're saying that they want to take us out, and they're going to clean it up, and they're going to bring us back, right?
01:36But I have a document here from online, right?
01:38By a company, a well-known company within the country that will be now to end up with inside here, right?
01:45Because it's said that they're with non-government approval to do something inside here.
01:50So how would this allocate be saying one thing now, and then doing something different when it comes?
01:55And they want to extend, they want to extend some way.
01:58And they want to send a city mall to be a green park, to be a green park, because that was seen on the thing, because it's online.
02:06So open a green park in front here.
02:07So you're all going to move us out for my life.
02:09We heard these people, them, see about their family paying their mortgage and anything.
02:12So open a green park.
02:13The vendors are putting forward a different proposal.
02:17Block 25 feet from this point here to that point there, and give everybody a lease.
02:22This is what you're lobbying for.
02:23Give everybody a lease where they can go to the bank, get a contractor, pull up their money together, get a contractor, and build one uniform thing right around.
02:30The vendors and the mayor will meet sometime next week.
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