By Mark DaCosta- The People’s National Congress Reform / A Partnership for National Unity (PNCR/APNU) coalition has issued a call for rigorous planning, full transparency, and meaningful consultation ahead of the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development’s ambitious municipal market rehabilitation programme, warning that without these safeguards, the initiative risks repeating the governing People’s Progressive Party Civic’s (PPP/C’s) history of poorly executed, over-budget projects that burden ordinary citizens.

The coalition’s position, made clear in a press statement released on July 17, 2026, centres on the fundamental principle that development must not become displacement — that any upgrade to our nation’s market infrastructure must prioritise the livelihoods, dignity, and economic survival of the vendors who depend upon these spaces daily.

The opposition coalition has expressed deep unease over what it describes as an “overly ambitious agenda of five sod turnings in two weeks,” cautioning that such haste threatens to replicate the PPP/C’s “failed track record of poorly executed and over cost projects that often lack adequate public input.” The PNCR/APNU coalition insists that the rule of law appears selectively applied by the governing party, noting that “the rule of law is never suitable to the PPPC except when it is in opposition.”