Kipo Market in Port Moresby ready for business, says Tkatchenko

By HELEN TARAWA
Moresby-South MP Justin Tkatchenko says the K1.5 million Kipo Market at East Boroko, in Port Moresby, will open to the public next week.
Tkatchenko told The National that the gates had been opened to vendors who had started selling their products but that was not official until next week. “We’ve allowed all the vegetable and betel nut sellers to go into that market,” he said.
“It’s run and operated by a committee under the Moresby-South market management board of which I am the chairman.”
Tkatchenko said this was the seventh market in Moresby-South that had been built and was a joint partnership with National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop.
“We wanted all the vendors to settle down in a clean, healthy environment where they are secure and they can set up for the market opening,” he said.
“We have got a section for betel nut which is strictly supervised.
“That has cleaned up quite the area quite considerably. No one outside of the market boundaries is allowed to sell betel nut or any other product.
“People in the market are only allowed to sell in market boundaries.
“We are providing clean, healthy, safe areas for our people of East Boroko, Kipo, Vadavada and surrounding areas to ensure that they can have a clean and healthy market.”
Tkatchenko said the market was predominantly used by vendors from Eastern Highlands and Chimbu. “We are teaching the women about cleanliness, food preparation and food safety to ensure that they know how to handle their food when selling to their customers,” he said.