KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – The Carnival Development Corporation (CDC) says that talks about a rat infestation at its newly introduced food court at “Carnival City” — Victoria Park — is “not true”.
Chief Executive Officer of the CDC, Ashford Wood, told I-Witness News on Monday that people who made such statements on radio “are just trying to be mischievous. Full stop!”
“The thing about rats and all those things, that’s not true. The CDC will not put its patrons where they are at risk. And I will say straight up, if in people’s opinion the food court is infested with rat then it means that the whole park is infested with rats because it is part of Victoria Park and you know that Victoria Park is not infested with rats,” Wood said.
Wood explained that the food court, introduced by the CDC and the National Lotteries Authority this year, aims to separate patrons from the smoke and other smells of food being prepared.
“What we have done is we have simply put the food court where the National Lotteries Authority … built the extended area next to the Park. So it’s a case of you are in the Park, you simply walk to that door and you go to the food court and you get what you want to eat,” Wood said.
“So we have created the courts, we provide the tents, we provide the water, we produce electricity; we have painted the area properly. It looks good,” Wood said.
“So, whereas for the Miss SVG [pageant on June 2], before persons went there — as you would know, no one likes change — some persons were a bit apprehensive, after the Miss SVG, all of the persons who served food there came back and said it was a brilliant idea, they enjoyed it and they are pleased … It is good and persons appreciate it,” Wood said.