Customer issues at Gordon

By BERRY DINGHAN
THE National Capital District Commission (NCDC) needs to restrategise and create customer demands at the K30 million Gordon Market because there are no customers at the redeveloped market.
James Naipo, a registered vegetable retailer at the facility, said they were experiencing very less customers compared to the old Gordon Market.
It is taking longer to sell their vegetables and they were losing money with them selling at la ower price to avoid the produce from rotting.
“When we make losses, we are having a domino effect on our wholesale vegetable traders from Central and the Highlands,” Naipo said.
“They (wholesalers) also experience a loss because we cannot buy new stock as we didn’t make enough money or we haven’t completed our sales.”
He said apart from registration and ticketing issues, and space limitation to 2,290 tables, the biggest issue was having less or no customers to create demand on their vegetables.
This has forced registered vendors to leave the new facility and engage as illegal vendors outside the market facility to meet demands for their sales.
Naipo said NCDC needs to look into this.
He said some of the issues that the NCDC needed to step in and address include:

• MOVING all the bus stops back to Gordon to create easy access for people to do their trading as it was hard for people to carry loads and walk longer distances to bus stops;
• BRING back the wholesale vegetable traders from Central to Gordon for the retailers to buy there rather than going all the way to Boroko Market;
• THE new market is to open for business at 6am and not 8am;
• CLOSE of business for the market should be 6pm and not 4pm (too early); and,
• BAN security guards at the gates conducting through checks on women.

Naipo said the market’s 4.pm closing time was too early as the working class people who were finishing work at 4pm to 5pm and were unable to do late shopping at the market.
He said the illegal vegetable vendors outside Gordon Market were stopping the customers from coming into the market and have called on the NCDC to station police there to monitor and to stop any illegal marketing.
NCDC city manager Bernard Kipit had earlier said vendors who were selling outside the new Gordon Market did not have permits and were illegal.
Kipit advised them to register to the vendors association but did not give a time frame.
“The new Gordon Market, it is my fervent hope that we all take responsibility to look after it with pride to fully serve its purpose,” he said.
“Let us take correct approach to this significant development and appreciate the new market and the efforts of everyone involved.”
Kipit had also said Port Moresby continued to develop in terms of infrastructures and service to create a liveable, modern capital city that residants have enjoyed overtime.
Peter Yipya, who claimed to speak on behalf of the illegal vendors outside the new Gordon Market, said most of the vendors did not register at the new market as the spaces were full.
He also said they didn’t want to pay K35 every week as there were no customers there to buy their items.
He addeded that there were limited space so they were forced to sell outside to sustain their livelihoods in the city.
Yipya said vending is the livelihood of most of the simple people and it must be addressed.