Lupari calls for removal of vendors

CHIEF Secretary Isaac Lupari recently wrote to the National Capital District Commission (NCDC) requesting the removal of sellers along roads opposite and behind the Central Government Office complex at Waigani.
In a letter to NCD city manager Bernard Kipit, Lupari said sellers along Kumul Avenue who sold goods along the road leading to the Telikom Rumana Building, including the Melanesian Way near the CGO Complex, should not be allowed to carry out any small to medium enterprise activities in the area.
“These activities attract people to crowd each day and for obvious health reasons, they must be stopped immediately,” Lupari said.
He said concerns had been raised on the matter hence, it was the responsibility of the NCDC to ensure this was addressed immediately.
“From the health perspective and for the clean environment, piles of rubbish and other stuff getting disposed of everywhere is an eyesore and not a pleasant sight to constantly see, betel nut husks and spittle, plastics bags and packets, soft drink bottles and cans and cigarette butts, everywhere.
“While I understand that it is not the sellers littering, they are equally responsible for contributing to the habitual buyers and their littering,” Lupari said.
He said the sellers should be removed permanently as soon as possible and no one should be allowed to sell along those roadsides again.
Rebecca Yariyari, from Gulf and a vendor in Port Moresby, said she had been selling cooked food in the capital since 1996.
She said the cooked fish and sago she sold helped her make ends meet for her family.
Yariyari said she had undergone training on food safety and urged NCDC to allocate a space for vendors like her to sell their food.