Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter
MISS MAUREEN has an identification card from the Jamaica Higgler and Vendors Association that allows her to sell snacks in front of Sabina Park and Alpha Primary and High schools.
Students are her customers. Like the many vendors along South Camp Road in Kingston, she is not anticipating any returns for Jamaica's investment in the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup.
"Di World Cup is not for we small people. Mi nah look forward to it. Is children mi sell to but now mi worried. (I am) sad, worried, wondering what to do," the golden ager told The Sunday Gleaner.
Vendors along South Camp Road have been around long enough to know what dotted lines on the road means: road works are about to commence. There is a strong possibility that they will be displaced. Both the National Works Agency (NWA) and the National Water Commission (NWC) are said to have works planned for the area as the World Cup approaches. While Stephen Shaw, communications manager at the NWA could not confirm plans for works, Charles Buchanan, communications manager at the NWC told The Sunday Gleaner that work will be done in the area and may displace the vendors.
If such displacement occurs,
vendors will not only suffer a loss of income during the staging of the World Cup but it is likely that monies will be lost when the sewage works begin. Mindful that schools surrounding Sabina Park will be closed on match days next year, the vendors say the double fallout in revenue will be tremendous.
Broader Sewer Programme
Meanwhile, Mr. Buchanan has said that the sewer works are not wholly World Cup related, insisting that they form a broader programme to fix and replace sewer mains, the NWC has commenced laying a new main along South Camp Road. Mr. Buchanan said that while work is not directly related to Jamaica hosting Cricket World Cup, there is more reason to complete it as the new sewer main will be needed to take additional volumes of waste that will be generated from the event.
Mr. Buchanan said that the work, which started last week, is expected to be completed by December and that it will result in inconvenience.
"It is impossible to undertake a major work like this without causing some slight inconvenience to persons," Mr. Buchanan said.
"We are appealing to persons in the South Camp Road area to cooperate with the contractors. For persons travelling in motor vehicles, we encourage them to use alternate routes," he added.
Mr. Buchanan has also encouraged the vendors to find a suitable location, if possible, suggesting that they may want to consider occupying the other side of the road. It is a suggestion that the vendors have heard before but some are apprehensive about crossing the street. The side most of the vendors are located on now is opposite to Sabina Park. Blossom, another vendor has said that if that side of the street is to be occupied the youngsters may be placed in danger.
"We don't want to put out where we leave di children in di road. Wi don't want anything to happen to dem cause a dem a support mi," Blossom said.
"After next week dem seh wi can't stay out here. We caan sell inna di school suh Mi nuh know wah wi ago do...an nuh baddy nuh come forward to talk to wi," lamented Georgia, another worried vendor.
With their displacement, albeit short term, seemingly inevitable vendors like Maureen are only left to ponder the real benefits of the World Cup to them. As far as they can see, they may not be allowed to sell during the tournament and further World Cup works now will only served to deny them a bread, at least for now.
