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Momodou
Denmark
11832 Posts |
 Posted - 13 Aug 2007 : 21:57:43
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Brikama Market Cold Store Project
Market Women Express Concern
By Modou Jonga
The site located at the old garage area at the Brikama Market, earmarked by the Brikama Area Council (BAC) for the construction of a cold store, is proving to be a delicate matter requiring careful handling. According to BAC sources, the project is conceived by the Department of State for Fisheries and it will be managed by the Brikama Area Council after completion.
In fact, reports have it that the engineers and architects of a Gambian consulting firm, GAMECS, were at the site earmarked for the construction of the cold store on Thursday 9 August, 2007. But the construction of the cold store would require relocating the market women vendors who are sceptical about their fate. They believe that they will be evicted without being given a suitable alternative by the Brikama Area Council (BAC).
Speaking to this reporter, Jotang Bah, a desperate vendor, noted that they had been relocated twice in the past by the BAC. Mrs. Bah stated that if no suitable alternative is provided, over a hundred of them and their families will be economically affected. She further said that it is from their business that they help feed and provide the basic needs for their families.
Another vendor, Musukebba Fatty, told Foroyaa that they have, on Thursday 9 August, discussed with the executive of the market committee on the issue who assured them that they would intervene on their behalf. She doubts whether the BAC has an ideal place to relocate the affected vendors.
She told this reporter that their representatives would be dispatched to seek audience with the chief of Kombo Central and the National Assembly Member and failing which they will demand for an audience with the president.
When the vendors were asked why they did not seek audience with the management of BAC, they opined that the BAC has been a huge failure in improving the standards of the market and their plight.
A fish trader, Olimatou Jahanneh, noted that she feeds, shelters, clads and pays school fees for her four children from the income derived from her petty trade. She lamented that her husband is too weak to fend for the family and has to do it alone.
Other vendors, including Fatou Sanyang and Sedi Jabbi, expressed similar sentiments and frustrations.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Brikama Area Council, Mr. Serigne Modou Joof, confirmed the presence of engineers and architects from GAMECS at the said site to survey the ground prior to the construction of the cold store to be built in 2008. PRO Joof said the BAC will be meeting with representatives of the concerned vendors at the regional Governor's office on Tuesday 14 August 2007 on the eviction issue and their subsequent relocation.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 94/2007, 13 - 14 August 2007
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2007 : 22:22:42
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There is plenty of land that could be utilised around Brikama for the construction of a cold store,which as the name explains is a store,not a place of business,so why build it in a place where there has been a womans market for so long? the powers that be appear to be always having problems with women market traders,the case of the Serrakunda car park which was due to be resurfaced was taken over by the women traders simply because the authorities refused to give them a satisfactory place to trade and they had no alternative other than to make a stand.The loss of this car park had a knock on effect of making the minibus drivers search out alternative sites which are far from ideal,the police also seem to like the idea of confusing everbody by thinking up one way streets and cause those wishing to travel a great deal of problems not to mention the drivers who have to take routes that they do not know through roads not designed to take the volume of traffic that they now take.
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