The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

VENDORS at Potters Cay Dock are tired of waiting for the government to make provisions needed to provide them with electricity for their businesses. While vendors at Arawak Cay have electricity, vendors at Potters Cay Dock use loud generators to provide energy to their appliances. Many of them told The Tribune yesterday that generators are costly and noisy, causing difficulties with running their businesses while deterring people from coming to the area.

When contacted, Anthony McKinney, the acting permanent secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture, said he was unaware of the problem and that the government should not be blamed for it.

“We live in a country where people want to blame everything on the government.” he said. “People blame the government even when there is no reason to do so. The provision for electricity falls within BEC.”

“We are not responsible for it. I have no idea why electricity is not available and I will have to look into it.”

Nonetheless, vendors at Potters Cay Dock criticized the government for not taking steps to ensure electricity is provided to them. William Rolle, a vendor at “The Big Sonny,” said: “It is a big problem. The government has an issue with some stall owners who don’t pay their bills, but if you hook up electricity to these stalls the owners would have to pay. Vendors have electricity at Arawak Cay yet we don’t have it here. They are discriminating against us.”

Mr Rolle suggested the government secretly wants businesses on Potters Cay Dock to fail so the area could be altered. He said: “I heard some people say the government want turn Potters Cay dock into a mariner for Kerzner, so maybe that’s why we don’t have electricity. They stop people from selling cards, they cut out the numbers business; what else they want us do? Young men like me trying to do something positive. I don’t want to sell drugs.”

Kenneth McKenzie, owner of “McKenzie’s Authentic Bahamian Foods,” said: “We need to have power current so we don’t have to have all this noise. The government and other businesses could make money from providing us with electricity as well. I must have bought about ten generators since I’ve been here. This is a real place for Bahamians to come and chill out after a long, hard day. The potential is greater. We just need the utilities.”

Rodney Bones, owner of “Bones Seafood,” said: “The generator is killing us. All my customers go when they hear the noise. We speak to the Minister about it all the time. But from the PLP to the FNM, everyone say, ‘yeah we will look into it,’ but no one ever comes and hook us up. Imagine hearing that generator all day. It’s terrible.”

Another vendor, Marsha Scott, said: “I have a problem with the lack of electricity because using the generator is costly. You need electricity for almost everything. You need it for your refrigerator and you need to store your food properly so the food wouldn’t poison customers. I don’t know what’s the hold up with getting it. All the other places in this area, including the businesses and the bridge, have electricity, except us. The generators are costly to fix and they have to be replaced often.”

Daniel Scott, owner of “Danny Under the Bridge,” expressed similar concerns. He said: “The problem has been going on for so long and I still don’t know why we ain’t get it. Giving us electricity is not in their plans, despite what they tell us. A generator is twenty dollars a day; twenty times seven is $140 a week. Overall, we pay about $560 a month to keep up with it. That’s money that can be gained by the government. I just spoke to a person at BEC about it recently. He said they were going to be doing something, but that turned out to be a show. BEC came to fix street lights, not to give us electricity. Personally, I’m ready. I put in my meter panel so I’m somewhat prepared for the electricity if it comes; I’ll be ready to meet the requirements.”

Patricia Rahming, a patron of “Donnie’s Conch Salad,” said: “BEC could put temporary meter boxes to these stalls so they could make money from the vendors. They could charge the vendors by the meter. The generators are noisy. Sometimes the noise discourages me from coming here. People can’t enjoy the television or the music in the area because the generator is so noisy.”