Oistins facility to get spruce-up soon
THE BERINDA COX FISH MARKET in Oistins will be in for a complete upgrade later this year.
Word of this has come from Minister of Maritime Affairs Kirk Humphrey who, along with Minister of the Environment Trevor Prescod, Member of Parliament for the area Ralph Thorne, Chief Fisheries Officer Stephen Willoughby and general manager of the National Conservation Commission, Keith Neblett, toured the Christ Church facility yesterday.
Greeted by rusty hinges, countertops filled with holes, missing doors and a general lack of maintenance in the market, Humphrey said the upgrade would come as soon as the money became available.
“We have made a decision that that cannot obtain for much longer. I have already given the MP our commitment that as soon as the new financial year begins in April, that our major project in the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, in the Markets Section, will be to rectify most of the things you have seen in relation to the Oistins market.”
The facility was closed yesterday as a team of workers from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, and vendors who ply their trade at the market led by chairman of the Oistins Fisherfolk Association, Linda Harris, using equipment sponsored by Thorne, carried out a thorough cleaning of the premises. It will reopen for business today.
The countertops will be changed to stainless steel and a quotation for the work has already been obtained. The cupboards will be repaired and Government is finalising the quotation for that work, and the bathrooms will be fixed and brought “up to standard”.
Humphrey explained the Berinda Cox Market was similar to other markets around the
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