Christmas boom sweeps the city

AS HUNDREDS of persons crammed downtown Port-of-Spain yesterday and are expected to do so today for last minute Christmas shopping, Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) president Gregory Aboud and Port-of-Spain Mayor Murchison Brown agree that the city is slowly recovering from the setbacks it experienced earlier this year. Aboud told Newsday that there was a steady flow of shoppers in and out of the city throughout the day as Christmas shopping in Port-of-Spain neared its climax. He said while there was no mad rush of persons coming into the city for Christmas shopping, the number of Christmas shoppers coming into the city has encouraged Port-of-Spain merchants.

“We are recovering nicely from the events of 2005,” Aboud said. Earlier this year, there were three bomb blasts in Port-of-Spain and another in St James. There were also other incidents of crime in downtown Port-of-Spain during the year. Aboud said there has been an improvement in business in the downtown shopping district of the city, and the enhanced police and army presence in Port-of-Spain has been working well to date with a reduction in crimes such as shoplifting and pickpocketing. Brown said while shopping in the city may not be prolific, it was very steady during the Christmas season this year and he was pleased to see people coming into Port-of-Spain to shop. Like Aboud, the mayor agreed that the enhanced security measures instituted in the city had improved the levels of safety and security. However, the DOMA president said the group continues to be concerned about the security of merchants on the outskirts of the city, and this situation needed to be closely monitored.

Meanwhile, local importers continue to have no problems with the hauliers in getting their goods off the Port-of-Spain or Pt Lisas ports. San Juan Business Association (SJBA) president Gail Merhair said her members have not been hit with the delay surcharge that the hauliers recently threatened to impose on the business community,  and appear to have called a truce for Christmas. Last week, the hauliers threatened a $200 delay surcharge against importers for late removal of containers from the PoS port. Works and Transport Minister Colm Imbert said Government would not intervene in the matter, but would assist groups willing to get involved in commercial trucking services. The hauliers recently attempted to impose the delay surcharge against Port Authority of TT (PATT), but Imbert’s warning that they would face legal action from Government, forced them to back down. The hauliers subsequently confirmed Imbert’s assessment that they could not impose the surcharge against the PATT since they had no legal contract to provide services to PATT.