Government is expected to spend millions of dollars to upgrade East Side Plaza on Charlotte Street, Port-of-Spain.
This announcement was made by Montgomery Guy, chairman of the Port-of-Spain Shopping Complex Limited (POSSCL), a company under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
Guy and PoSSCL board members met with tenants on Thursday.
He said the monies would come from an Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) loan.
Guy said work should start during this financial year and the mall will be closed for 12-18 months to facilitate the upgrade work. He said in the interim, tenants will be relocated to another spot in the Port-of-Spain area.
He said consideration will be given to waiving their rent at the new location for six months.
Guy said three locations are being looked at but noted that Cabinet will make the final decision as to where the tenants will be relocated to.
He said East Side Plaza was a high priority for the board, and that the vision is for all 143 tenants to engage in successful entrepreneurial activities which would generate wealth for them.
He said that the mandate was to develop entrepreneurial-type businesses through a business incubator model, while providing training opportunities to ensure their success.
“East Side Plaza will be the West Mall of East Port-of-Spain, as the modern facility would create a sense of pride and purpose amongst the tenants and residents of East Port-of-Spain,” Guy said.
He said the Port-of-Spain Shopping Complex Limited was already working towards a partnership with NEDCO, so that tenants can receive formal entrepreneurial training and loan facilities to grow and expand their businesses, while discussions were taking place with iGovTT to make East Side Plaza a Free WiFi Zone to enhance the customer shopping experience and give tenants readily and reliable access to the internet, where they can take their businesses online.
