Vendor: Market’s filthy

 THE Madang town market is in a filthy state with rubbish piled up inside and no effort to keep it clean, a vendor says.

Vendor Regina Wani, who was selling meri blouses, said there were piles of rubbish near where she sold clothes.

“This is unhealthy and is not good for market users as the smell here chases our customers away,” she said.

“It wasn’t like this before.”

Vendors suspect that a leaked sewerage pipe nearby added to the filth and bad smell in the area.

Judith Lus, a bilum seller from Southern Highlands, said she kept burning the rubbish piled near where she sold her bilum and was growing tired of it.

A market officer said the vehicle used to remove rubbish from the market was under repair and awaiting a spare part to be brought in from Japan.

He said there was no security at the market to control the dumping of waste.

“The guards engaged were made redundant five months ago,” he said.

“The ones currently living in the market at night are local boys engaged by sellers to watch over their market goods.”

He said revenue from the market for the past five months was not recorded and they did not know when the authorities would hire a new security firm.