By ROBYN ADDERLEY
FREEPORT, Grand Bahama (BIS) – Approximately 50 vendors received the Emergency Vendor Relief Grant on Friday, April 8, 2022, distributed on the first floor of the Harold DeGregory Building, where the Ministry for Grand Bahama is housed.
The Hon. Ginger Moxey, Minister for Grand Bahama, said that when the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation, the Hon. Chester Cooper, visited Grand Bahama in late March, they were having meetings with potential buyers of the Grand Lucayan.
“We decided to go over to the Port Lucaya Marketplace to visit some of the vendors and to really hear their concerns and see how we could address some of their issues,” Minister Moxey said. “Immediately, we discovered that it was a cruise ship day and there were no customers.”
Minister Moxey added: “Many of the vendors would have gone through Hurricane Dorian and then the pandemic and so they were really struggling.”
The Minister further stated that they were looking at ways to possibly bring relief.
It was a Monday, and the following day, they were able to take information to Cabinet requesting immediate relief to not only those vendors, but others as well.
“Today is the beginning of the fulfillment of that and it’ll continue on, as we are still waiting to get all of the information from the various vendors,” Minister Moxey said.
Vendors are required to submit the relevant documents before their cheques are processed.
During phase one, 50 vendors received cheques, out of approximately 380.
“Since then,” Minister Moxey said, “we’ve had additional cruise passengers coming in that we were able to get into Port Lucaya Marketplace to support those vendors. We are also looking at the beach access and giving the visitors a better experience. When the visitors come to that area, the Port Lucaya vendors will then benefit.”
