Market opens for operation

THE K30 million market at Gordon in Port Moresby will open for business today, with an initial 1,292 vendors expected to use the facility, according to the National Capital District Commission (NCDC).
It announced recently that the market could not be used immediately after the opening on Oct 31 to allow time for the allocation of spaces to vendors.
Kay Kaugla, who works for the NCDC market division, said vendors would have to be members and registered with the Vendors Association to use the facility.
“We have the vendors association which we have been working with over the years,” she said.
“We are not ignoring women who were not part of the Gordon market before. We are allocating space for them too.
“If one does not come in to pay, it will be open to anybody.
“But we have some control measures in place.
“We are now charging K5 a table per day. For one week, it will be K35. Mothers are allowed to pay for two weeks, one month or three months in advance.
“We also cater for vendors from Central and have allocated 77 spaces at the back for them.
“We also have 58 spaces for seasonal vendors – mothers who plant and come in for one day to sell their vegetables. They also come in and pay a fee of K5.
“We also have the permanent or regular vendors who pay a fee for a period of five or six weeks. They sit there until when the time comes up for them to pay again.”
City manager Bernard Kipit said vendors were expected to join the vendors association to sell at the market as a management measure.
“Anybody who wants to vendor cannot just come in and vend,” Kipit said.
“They have to come through a system.”
That’s why the market management team has been working with registered or established vendor system for a long time.”