Shamfa on Maracas Bay water woes

Tourism Minister Shamfa Cudjoe cannot believe that bake and shark vendors at Maracas Bay have not been getting running water since they have had to relocate from the car park area to temporary booths.

“It is not true that the vendors have had to be toting water for the past three months,” she said.

Cudjoe told Newsday yesterday that the very food vendors catered for the handing-over ceremony of the car park in December and there was running water in the area where the temporary booths are located.

She said a fixture was damaged last Friday when the dam overflowed, and the Water and Sewage Authority (WASA) shut off the connection.

That water connection was restored on Saturday morning. However, as of Monday, she said, the area started to experience low water pressure. WASA was yesterday correcting the problem and water should have been restored fully to the area thereafter.

When National Infrastructure Development Company (NIDCO) built the temporary facilities, Cudjoe said, they installed running water in the temporary booths.

“We would have gone up there and used those facilities,” she said.

“That is why the information you provided to me sounds so strange. They have had running water,” she said.

When the completed parking facilities were handing over, she said, Asha’s and Richards bake and shark booths catered for the occasion.

“We were able to use the washrooms and wash our hands. To say they have not had water for the last three months would be untrue,” she repeated. She said that the vendors association has easy access to her by cell phone and if they had those concerns, they would have raised them with her. NIDCO is expected to hand over the booths by Carnival, she said, after which WASA and the Programme for Upgrading Roads Efficiency Unit are expected to complete the sewage and retention ponds.

Meanwhile, president of the Maracas Vendors Association Festus Imasekha told Newsday, “All the temporary booths have been without water for three months. The tanks are all empty. We can open the tanks to show you. We have been toting water from our homes every day to cook and clean,” he said.

Yesterday, a vendor who did not want his name published, told Newsday they have been without running water for months and the authorities have been “giving us a bligh. They have been lenient with us.”

The lifeguard quarters, he said, was the only structure that has been getting running water all the time.

Because of the complaints in the media and a man being caught on camera fetching water from the sea to flush toilets, he said, running water was yesterday provided to the Carnival booth.