HGP Nightly News – Kitty Market is nearly complete, but its long-awaited reopening remains dependent on the installation of electricity meters by the Guyana Power and Light company, Georgetown Mayor Alfred Mentore has said.
Mentore placed the market’s completion at between 95 and 97 per cent, saying the remaining electrical issue is outside the direct control of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council.
“At any point, we’ll be moving to have the market opened,” he said. “Ideally, we would have done this some time now. We wanted to have had the market opened for some time.”
According to the mayor, the Council installed the market’s general electricity meter, but individual meters are still needed for vendors. Without them, stalls cannot be occupied and electricity consumption cannot be properly assigned.
The Council has already paid for the line needed to connect a new transformer and bring power into the building, Mentore said. That infrastructure is reportedly in place, leaving the meters as the main unresolved issue.
“We cannot do anything until the meters are actually in place,” he said.
Mentore said the Council and GPL are finalising a memorandum of understanding covering several outstanding matters between the two entities. The agreement also involves GPL infrastructure planned for municipal property.
The electricity arrangements for Kitty Market were added to that MOU in an attempt to create a binding framework for supplying and installing the required meters.
Mentore said the agreement was expected to be signed during the week, possibly by Wednesday. He was also hoping that a meeting with GPL would resolve the remaining questions and produce a clearer timeline.
Once the meters are installed, the Council intends to announce a formal reopening ceremony and allow vendors to occupy their stalls.
The Clerk of Markets has advised that many vendors are ready and eager to return, Mentore said. Arrangements for tenancy contracts are also being put in place, while spaces are being prepared for new vendors entering the municipal market system.
The mayor stopped short of giving another firm opening date, acknowledging that previous timelines had passed.
“I don’t want to say ‘very, very soon’ or ‘very shortly,’” he said, but maintained that the market could open within a short period once the GPL issue is settled.
The restoration began in 2016 and was originally expected to take nine months. The project’s cumulative cost has been estimated at approximately $240 million, with funding injected over several years.
In April 2025, the market was reported to be about 75 per cent complete. More than a year later, the Council says progress has reached as much as 97 per cent.
That represents a substantial advance, but the market remains closed. Vendors who have operated outside for years are still waiting for a confirmed return date.
