Fiji Sun

Vendors in the Savusavu Market could soon be sell­ing their products in a bet­ter environment.

This is all thanks to a $700,000 cheque handover on Tuesday to the Ministry of Local Government by the United Nations (UN) Women Fiji Multi-Country Office through an exchange of a Letter of Agree­ment (LoA) between the Permanent Secretary for Local Government, Housing and Environment, Joshua Wycliffe and UN Women Fiji MCO Representative Nicolas Burniat, for an upgrade of the current market building in Savusavu, through the UN Women Markets for Change (M4C) Project.

In receiving the cheque the Min­ister for Local Government and Housing, Praveen Bala, said this was not the first project where UN Women were partners with the ministry and municipal councils.

There has been previous partner­ships with municipal councils in Nadi, Rakiraki and Ba.

There will also be a partnership with Levuka soon.

“This re-development will defi­nitely create a better environment for our vendors in Savusavu,” Mr Bala said.

“We have been receiving some complaints from our vendors in terms of ventilation.

“The designs have made sure to capture the provision of proper lighting and ventilation,” Mr Bala added.

Mr Burniat said the Markets for Change project would continue ex­panding with UN commitments to­wards the economic empowerment of women in the country and the Pacific.

“The upgrade of the Savusavu market will contribute to im­proving the facilities that ven­dors use daily, improving their livelihoods and ability to grow their business,” Mr Burniat said.

The Savusavu market sustained­some damage during the category 5 Tropical Cyclone Winston in Febru­ary, 2016.

The new structure will soon be built to withstand a Category 5 Cy­clone and seismic events.

Plans for the construction have been drawn up after consultation with market vendors and the local town council.

Construction is scheduled to start this month.

Edited by Ranoba Baoa

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